Entoloma lucidum (P. D. Orton) M.M. Moser

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

Distribution - Taxonomic History - Etymology - Identification - Culinary Notes - Reference Sources

Entoloma mushrooms are commonly referred to as 'pinkgills', and most of them are very difficult to identify with certainty. Entoloma lucidum is no exception and, because it is also quite a rare, find most people interested in fungi never become really familiar with it.

Distribution

This attractive little grassland mushroom is an uncommon find in Britain and Ireland, although it is quite widely distributed. Entoloma lucidum occurs also throughout much of mainland Europe, where it is rarely more than an occasional find, and in parts of North America.

Taxonomic history

When in 1960 British mycologist Peter Darbishire Orton described this species he gave it the scientific (binomial) name Nolanea lucidum. It was Austrian Mycologist Meinhard Michael Moser (1888 - 1977) who, in a 1978 (posthumous, therefore) publication, transferred this species to its present genus, whereupon its currently-accepted scientific name Entoloma lucidum was established.

Synonyms of Entoloma lucidum include Leptonia lucidum P. D. Orton and Nolanea cericea.

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 lucidum comes from the Latin adjective lucidus and means bright, shining or clear.

Identification guide

	Cap 1 to 5cm across; initially conical becoming convex; often umbonate; smooth; brown or grey-brown, hygrophanous, paler when dry; the cap margin is translucently striate.
	Gills Moderately spaced, adnate to emarginate or almost free; pinkish-grey to pinkish-brown. Cheilocystidia absent. Stem Cylindrical, 4 to 8cm long and 1 to 5mm in diameter; grey-brown to yellowish-brown; longitudinally silvery fibrillose; no stem ring.
	Spores Heterodiametrical (ellipsoidal, 5-7-angled in side-view), thin-walled; 8-10.5 x 6.5-9μm. Show larger image Spores of Entoloma lucidum  X  Spore print Brownish pink.
Odour/taste	Odour slight, farinaceous (like wet flour) or rancid; taste not distinctive.
Habitat & Ecological role	Saprobic in in grassland and in grassy clearings in deciduous woodland.
Season	Fruiting summer and autumn in Britain and Ireland.
Similar species	There are several similar small brownish Entoloma species that cannot reliably be separated on macroscopic characters alone; key identification features include spore shapes and sizes and the form and dimensions of cystidia on the gill edges, capss and stem.

Culinary Notes

It is unclear whether this is a toxic toadstool, but as some Entoloma species - for example Entoloma sinuatum - are known to be deadly poisonous it seems sensible to treat Entoloma lucidum as suspect and not to be collected for eating. (Its small size and it scarcity are two more good reasons for not collecting this species other than when necessary for research purposes.)

Reference Sources

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 David Kelly.

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