|
|
|
{Page 79}
Shelly Smith and Lois A. Pfiester
Dept. of Botany-Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019
| References | Top of Page | Table of Contents | Home |
Lepiota procera in the Agaricaeae is reported to range from Quebec to Florida, west to Michigan, Minnesota and Nebraska (1, 2). In October, 1986 we collected a single specimen of L. procera in leaf litter near a dirt pathway at Lake Thunderbird, Cleveland County, Oklahoma. No other mushrooms were located in the area. This represents the first published report of L. procera in Oklahoma. The specimen has been placed in the University of Oklahoma collection.
The cap, 9.3 cm in diameter, was broad, flat and circular with a distinctive knob in the middle and brown wooly scales. Its flesh was white and did not change color upon bruising. The brown hairy stalk measured 11.2 cm in length and was 0.62 cm thick at its midpoint. The base was bulbous with short brown, feathery scales. The white veil had a distinctive movable ring which was turning brown with age (Fig. 1).
A white spore print was completed 12 hr after collection by placing the cap on half-black, half-white paper. The colorless eggshaped (dextrinoid) spores ranged in size from 9—16 × 8 µm. They had a thick wall with a large pore near the tip.
More extensive collections of mushrooms in Oklahoma would undoubtedly result in other reports of L. procera in the state.
1. G. H. Lincolft, The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, Alfred A. Knopf., New York, 1984, 520 pp.
2. O. K. Miller, Mushrooms of North America, Dutton and Co., New York, 1972, 460 pp.
