Conocybe apala
Mycological characteristics
	gills on hymenium
	cap is conical
	hymenium is adnexed or free
	stipe is bare
	spore print is brown to reddish-brown
	ecology is saprotrophic
	edibility: inedible

Conocybe apala is a basidiomycete fungus and a member of Conocybe. It is a fairly common fungus, both in North America and Europe, found growing among short green grass. Until recently, the species was also commonly known as Conocybe lactea and Conocybe albipes.^[1] Other common synonyms such as Bolbitius lacteus J.B.E. Lange 1940 and Bolbitius albipes G.H. Otth 1871, place the fungus in the genus Bolbitius.

Appearance

Easily missable due to their very small size, C. apala fruitbodies are otherwise quite easy to identify. The cap has a pale cream to silvery-white colour and may sometimes have a darker yellow to brown coloration towards the central umbo. Its trademark hood-shaped conical cap expands with age and may flatten out, the surface being marked by minute radiating ridges. The cap can be up to 3 cm in diameter. The gills may be visible through the thin cap and these are coloured rust or cinnamon brown and quite dense. They are adnexed or free and release brown to reddish-brown elliptical spores producing a spore print of the same colour. The stem is cap-coloured, elongated, thin, hollow and more or less equal along its length with a height up to 11 cm and diameter 0.1 to 0.3 cm.^[2][3] It can bear minuscule striations or hairs. The flesh of C. apala has no discernible taste or smell.

It must be stressed that all parts of this small, light fungus are extremely delicate and fragile. The slender stem enables the mushroom to compete with vegetation for access to air currents for spore dispersal.

Habitat

C. apala is a saprobe found in areas with rich soil and short grass such as pastures, playing fields, lawns, meadows as well as rotting manured straw, fruiting single or sparingly few ephemeral bodies. It is commonly found fruiting during humid, rainy weather with generally overcast skies. It will appear on sunny mornings while there is dew but will not persist once it evaporates. In most cases, by midday the delicate fruiting bodies shrivel, dry and fade from sight. C. apala's fruiting season begins in spring and ends in autumn.^[2] It is distributed across Europe and North America.^[4]

Edibility

C. apala does not bear a distinctive taste or smell. While it is widely quoted as inedible and worthless^[2][3] due to its small size and mass, it is suspect for toxicity according to at least one author.^[4] Other members of the Conocybe genus, like Conocybe filaris, are toxic.

External links and resources

• Mushroom Expert - Conocybe albipes
• MykoWeb California Fungi - Conocybe lactea

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Conocybe apala

The genus Conocybe is a genus of mushrooms consisting of Conocybe tenera and at least 243 other species, with at least 50 species in North America.

Most have a long, thin fragile stem and are delicate, growing in grasslands on dead moss, dead grass, sand dunes, decayed wood, and dung. Conocybe species generally prefer fertile soils in lawns and pastures and are found worldwide. Conocybes are sometimes called dunce caps or cone heads due to their conical or bell-shaped caps. Species of Conocybe which have a well-developed partial veil are placed in the subgenus Pholiotina. ^[1] Similar to Galerina, a Conocybe species can be distinguished microscopically by its cellular cap cuticle which is filamentous (thread-like) in Galerina. It is easy to confuse Conocybe species for Galerina unless the microscopic nature of the cap cuticle is examined. Conocybes have cap cuticles resembling cobblestones. Conocybes can also be mistaken for species of Bolbitius.

Four species of Conocybe that are known to contain psilocin and psilocybin are Conocybe kuehneriana, Conocybe siligineoides, Conocybe cyanopus, and Conocybe smithii. Conocybe siligineoides was used for shamanic purposes by the Mazatecs of Oaxaca. ^[2]

Conocybe filaris is a common lawn mushroom which contains the same deadly toxins as the death cap.

Conocybe comes from the Greek cono meaning cone and cybe meaning head.

Species list

• Conocybe albipes (very common)
• Conocybe cyanopus (psychoactive)
• Conocybe elegans
• Conocybe filaris (deadly)
• Conocybe kuehneriana (psychoactive)
• Conocybe reticulata
• Conocybe rickenii
• Conocybe siligineoides (psychoactive)
• Conocybe smithii (psychoactive)
• Conocybe tenera (type species)
• Conocybe volviradicata^[3]

References