Psathyrella multipedata - Clustered Brittlestem

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Several of the brittlestems fruit in clusters, but none in such dense posy-like bunches as Psathyrella multipedata. Although multipedata means having many feet, groups of the many legs within a cluster of these mushrooms share a single foot as they join together to form a common base.

Look out for impressive tufted groups of Clustered Brittlestems on soil in open woodland as well as on lawns and roadside verges where there is buried rotten timber.

Identification guide

	Cap 0.5 to 3cm across, conical or convex and later bell shaped but never entirely flat; surface silky smooth; hygrophanous, reddish or clay brown when moist, drying pale ochre but often retaining a brownish centre. Gills Adnate or adnexed; light grey-brown with white edges, turning dark purple-brown. Stem 4 to 10cm long and 3 to 6mm dia.; white at the apex, browner towards base; no ring; several stems fused together at base to form clusters.
Spore print	Dark purple-brown.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On buried wood and rotting fallen timber in open woodland.
Season	June to November.
Occurrence	Common in most parts of Britain and Ireland.
Similar species	The Common Stump Brittlestem, Psathyrella piluliformis, which grows on dead hardwood, is a pale clay-brown when young and dries to be come ochre and eventually almost white.