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Entoloma madidum Gillet

Phylum: Basidiomycota - Class: Agaricomycetes - Order: Agaricales - Family: Entolomataceae

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This largish (for an Entoloma) mushroom is a rare find in Britain and Ireland, and microscopic study of spores is necessary to seprate it from other macroscopically similar bluish pinkgills.

Distribution

Entoloma madidum is a rare find in Britain. This pinkgill occurs also in parts of mainland Europe including Norway, The Netherlands and Italy, in all of which it is localised and either a rare or just a very occasional find.

Taxonomic history

When in 1878 French mycologist Claude-Casimir Gillet described this pinkgill mushroom, he gave it the scientific name Entoloma madidum by which it is still generally referred to today; however, the distinction between Entoloma madidum and Entoloma bloxamii was not clearly understood until recently, and so, inevitably, several synonyms exist.

Synonyms of Entoloma madidum include Agaricus madidus Fr., and Rhodophyllus madidus (Gillet) Quel.

Etymology

The generic name Entoloma comes from ancient Greek words entos, meaning inner, and lóma, meaning a fringe or a hem. It is a reference to the inrolled margins of many of the mushrooms in this genus.

The specific epithet madidum is derived from Latin and means moist or wet.

Identification guide

 

Cap

3 to 8cm across; initially conical with an inrolled margin, becoming plano convex with a slight umbo and a wavy downturned margin, not striate; surface slightly greasy when fresh, bluish with a violaceous tinge, with inate silky radial fibrils; flesh firm and white.


Gills

Adnate-decurrent, moderately crowded; edge irregularly serrulate; white becoming pink at maturity.

Stem

Cylindrical, longitudinally fibrillose; 4 to 9cm long and 1 to 2cm diameter; colour as cap but fading to white or yellowish white at the base; no stem ring.

 

Spores

Angular (6 to 8 angles in side view), subglobose, 5.9-7.6 x 5.8-7.5μm; Qav=1.03

Spore print

Pink.

Odour/taste

Not distinctive.

Habitat & Ecological role

Solitary or in small groups in unimproved grassland, sometimes under oaks or birch trees.

Season

Fruiting in summer and autumn in Britain and Ireland.

Similar species

This mushroom may be poisonous; it could be confused with Entoloma bloxamii and other big bluish species in the Entoloma genus.

Culinary Notes

Entoloma madidum is very rare and should not be gathered except for necessary scientific study. Its edibility is suspect and it has no culinary value.

Reference Sources

Fascinated by Fungi, 2nd Edition, Pat O'Reilly 2016, reprinted by Coch-y-bonddu Books in 2022.

Knudsen H., Vesterholt J. (eds) Funga Nordica: agaricoid, boletoid and cyphelloid genera - Nordsvamp, 2008

Dictionary of the Fungi; Paul M. Kirk, Paul F. Cannon, David W. Minter and J. A. Stalpers; CABI, 2008

Taxonomic history and synonym information on these pages is drawn from many sources but in particular from the British Mycological Society's GB Checklist of Fungi.

Acknowledgements

This page includes pictures kindly contributed by Simon Harding.

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