Observations by davidwhyte

Small, LBM's fFruiting in a sprayed strip between lawn and very mixed native bush / regen. Right in the middle of the city, so highly modified enviromental.

Could not see any manuka / kanuka. Could see acacia and in the distance a tall pine. So would be with one of these two hosts.

Stem had pink-purple tones in it and cap looked fibrinous. Gills started light tan and moved to dark brown.

Stem was scurfy (right noun?) but no ring or cortina remnants visible among the ruff surface.

No bulb

Can't determine if this is a webcap or a fibre cap.

In mulch under younger exotic copper beech in council park. Again presentation was unusual and one I had not see before.

However the smaller / younger fruit bodies had classical laccaria presentation.

Also growing in the mulch was
Collybiopsis subpruinosa or similar. And some of the fruit bodies were close enough to the laccaria when removing I also took these collybiopsis frb as well.

Also interesting that the AI suggested that these for laccaria, so clearly it is getting pretty good. Although it straight to species level.

This deceived me for a while. Fruiting in mulch council park / garden. Chip cherries and basket fungi also present and fruiting. The fruiting in mulch combined with how uniform presentation as typically one sees a range of presentation of laccaria.

Mature pines / conifers on the other side of the cobbled pathway next to the garden, so easily within root distance.

All fruit bodies were Infundibuliform, and clear color change with moisture. With ring of dark around the outside while lighter in the middle was common.

All had white sock at base.

99% sure associated with pin oaks, as scattered under a number of pin oaks. However these were within rooting distance of a line of alder and on the other side of a ditch two tall eucalyptus that could easily be in the area.

From memory this patch if often boggy in winter, as it is an area that water can pool if rain is substantial.

Was intrigued by the range of presentations. The cap surface was:
Cracked with yellow cracks
Cracked with red cracks
Not cracked with brown surface, that was fuzzy to smooth.
Not cracked with deep brown surface that is clearly fuzzy.

Macro photography showed that on the edges of the yellow cracks there were red lines. Thus showing there is a layer or thin red material under the cap surface. If the cracks are shallow then they show red, if deeper they are yellow.

The color of the pores was also different between the cracked and uncracked fruiting bodies. The cracked cap pores were larger and lighter in color. Whereas the uncracked was darker yellow and small pores.

This makes sense from an enviromental perspective. The older fruit bodies are more likely to be exposed to enviromental pressures that make them crack. And thus have more mature pores and older pore surface.

There as a range of sizes. Photos were not taken of the larger ones which were small saucer size.

White mycelium always present at the base. And of course bruising blue with damage.

Found in council / municipal garden. In leaf litter / duff at base of a slope under cryptomeria japonica. At top of small slope was large oak (not English, also deciduous). So easily within root distance.

Young was button shaped but quickly became funnel like. Color had pink and brown tones in it.

Didn't have the peppery aroma I was expecting for Rhodocybe piperita. Had no aroma that I could detect.

Will taste and take section photos later.

Showing signs of changing color with reducing moisture.

Is within 1km of two other R piperita in similar environments. So all signs point to this. Maybe aroma isn't a strong indicator / my nose isn't calibrated today.

Gills white when young turning light brown with age.

Stype was tough / difficult to cut through.

Found in mulch and wood wool under banana plants on a rural property / farm property.

White fuzz at stem of base.

Two fruiting bodies in garden mulch, right on the edge of a forest remnant which comes up to the garden.

First time I have observed what I think is the remains of a universal veil (not sure if this is right name) on the cap. Both had these 'warts' in the center of the cap.

Also bulb presen

Cap color was remarkably variable, from light tones through to quite dark. Did not appear to have a bulb, the larger fruit bodies had noticeable 'hairs' at the base of the stem. No 'bleeding' when picked.

Large numbers fruiting an old log. Fruiting from the crevices. They were raised up off the ground, although the kikuyu grass and tree debris had built up around them.

The two logs were part of a fence / corner fence. This looked the same age as the tree planting it was 'protecting'. This planting was dated 1981.

Gills decurrent, yellow tones in the fruit body. Smooth / waxy feel to cap. Cap has indent in the middle.

Was next to a river in native scrub.

Location is inaccurate. Will confirm location at later date.

Cap visid, and with visually scales, but couldn't feel them
With cortina when young, which produced a remnant of a ring higher up the stem.
Spore print on the caps was a brown-red color.
Inside stem very yellow and stem hollow.
Robust feel, not fragile and also not tough like agrocybe stems.

Growing in two clusters in a mulched city garden. Presentation indicated to me that it would be growing on wood in the subsurface. Otherwise would expect a wider fruiting pattern.

Fruiting on rotten log under tawa trees. Large numbers, gelatinous cap. Would have said it was Mycena helminthobasis given the photo in Kerr's field guide (pg 40). However the inat obs for this species is clearly different.

Given how distinctive the is, surprised not a clear match to a species in inat.

Mycena sp. 'Ahuriri Reserve (PDD 80918)' seem a good match visually and also fruits on wood.

Found on nikau palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) frond, with tawa forest top story.

Reading Horak (2018) he states that C occoltus is found on nikau palm and supplejack (ripogonum scandens) but only two samples have ever been collected. Both from Thames coromandel and Kaimai saddle on the kaimai forest. Both of these are close geographically, being approx 100km away.

Also macro level this C. occoltus is same as C. isabellinus. But C isabelinus is found with beech in the south island.

So almost guaranteed to be C. occoltus.