Entoloma conferendum – Star Pinkgill

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Star Pinkgills fruit from spring right through to the onset of winter. The spores, which tend to be irregularly star shaped, give this little pinkgill its common name. Star pinkgills often occur in picturesque groups in parkland and in pastures, but occasionally you may also come across these neat little mushrooms in grassy woodland clearings.

Formerly this species was included in the now defunct genus Nolanea, under the scientific name Nolanea staurospora.

Identification guide

Cap	1.5 to 4cm across; initially convex or bell shaped, becoming broadly umbonate with a slightly incurved margin, expanding to become wavy edged; hygrophanous, dark brown at first, becoming much lighter once the caps dry out; margin translucent striate; surface finely fibrillose. The thin cap flesh is fragile and easily broken if touched.
	Gills Sinuate, almost free; whitish at first, becoming pink and eventually more brown; rather fragile.
Spores	Pink.
Stem	4 to 7cm long and 1.5 to 3mm dia.; colour as cap; silkily fibrillose with clearly visible longtudinal lines; cylindrical; no ring.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	Usually in small groups in grassland or in grassy woodland clearings.
Season	Fruiting from summer to late autumn.
Occurrence	Widespread and fairly common.
Similar species	The Wood Pinkgill, Entoloma rhodopolium, is similar in cap colour but usually flattens with a sharpish central umbo; it is, of course, a woodland species whereas the Star Pinkgill occurs nearly always in grassland.