Entoloma murrayi,[nb 1] commonly known as the yellow unicorn Entoloma or the unicorn pinkgill, is a species of fungus in the Entolomataceae family. It was first described from New England in 1859.
The fungus produces yellow mushrooms that have a characteristic sharp umbo on the top of a conical cap. Other similar species can be distinguished from E.murrayi by differences in color, morphology, or microscopic characteristics. The species is found throughout the Americas and in southeast Asia, growing on the ground in wet coniferous and deciduous forests. The mushroom is inedible and may be poisonous.
The specific epithetmurrayi honors the original collector, Dennis Murray of Massachusetts. Its common names "yellow unicorn Entoloma"[11] or "unicorn pinkgill" refer to the characteristic sharp umbo at the top of its cap.[12]
Description
Gills are well-spaced and acquire pinkish tones when mature.
The cap of E.murrayi is bell-shaped to conical, and measures 1.3–3cm (0.5–1.2in) in diameter. It features a sharp umbo in the center. The cap color is bright yellow to orange-yellow, but tends to fade in maturity. The gills have a narrowly adnate attachment to the stem, and are well-spaced. Initially yellow, they acquire a pinkish tone as the spores mature. The slender hollow stem is 4–7.5cm (1.6–3.0in) long and roughly equal in width throughout its length. It is pale yellow, with a fibrous surface, and often twisted with longitudinal striations.[11] Its surface is smooth, and there may be a whitish mycelium at the base.[13] The flesh is thin and pale yellow.[11] The taste and odor of the fruit bodies have been described as either "pleasant",[2][14] or indistinct.
The spore print is salmon-pink. Spores are smooth, angular (four-sided), hyaline (translucent), and measure 9–12 by 8–10μm.[11] The arrangement of the hyphae in the hymenophore tissue is parallel to interwoven and inamyloid. In the cap cuticle, the hyphae are interwoven radially, or alternatively in somewhat erect bundles. Hyphae of E.murrayi rarely have clamp connections.[3] The cap and gill tissue contain "repository hyphae" (storage units containing byproducts of metabolism) that release a watery, yellow-colored liquid when injured. These distinctive hyphae can be seen with light microscopy of both fresh and dried specimens.[15]
Similar species
Characteristic diagnostic features of E.murrayi include the bright yellow coloring, the conical cap, cube-shaped spores, and club-shaped cheilocystidia.[15]Entoloma quadratum is similar in size and morphology, but is colored salmon-orange. E.murrayi has the habit and form of some similarly colored mushrooms in the genus Hygrocybe (such as Hygrocybe marginata var. concolor), but it can be readily distinguished from those by its salmon-pink spore print, non-waxy gills, and the angular shape of its spores.[11][12]Entoloma luteum is a duller yellow color, with a less distinctly pointed umbo. The South American species E.dennisii, originally misidentified as E.murrayi, can be distinguished from the latter by its less conical cap and considerably smaller spores that measure 5.5–7μm.[16]
Habitat and distribution
A saprobic species,[13]Entoloma murrayi derives nutrients by breaking down organic matter. Fruit bodies are found in wet coniferous and deciduous forests, where they grow singly or in small groups on the ground in litterfall or humus, or in moss.[3][11] Fruiting occurs in the summer and autumn.[17]
123Phillips R. (2005). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Buffalo, New York: Firefly Books. p.156. ISBN1-55407-115-1.
123Halling RE, Mueller GM (2005). Common Mushrooms of the Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica. New York, New York: New York Botanical Garden Press. p.97. ISBN978-0-89327-460-3.
↑Singer R. (1942). "Type studies on agarics". Lloydia. 5: 97–135.
↑Dennis RWG. (1970). "Fungus flora of Venezuela and adjacent countries". Kew Bulletin, Additional Series. 1: 1–531 (see p. 76).
↑Rutter G, Watling R (1997). "Taxonomic and floristic notes on some larger Malaysian fungi II". Malayan Nature Journal. 50 (4): 229–34. ISSN0025-1291.
↑Moncalvo JM, Vilgalys R, Redhead SA, etal. (2002). "One hundred and seventeen clades of euagarics". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 23 (3): 357–400. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00027-1. PMID12099793.
↑Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10thed.). Wallingford, UK: CAB International. pp.340, 470, 600. ISBN978-0-85199-826-8.
1234567Roody WC. (2003). Mushrooms of West Virginia and the Central Appalachians. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p.196. ISBN0-8131-9039-8.
123Roberts P, Evans S (2011). The Book of Fungi. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press. p.126. ISBN978-0-226-72117-0.
12Kuo M. (July 2004). "Entoloma murraii". MushroomExpert.com. Retrieved 2012-07-08.
↑Guzmán G, Montoya-Bello L, Bandla-Muñoz M (1986). "Nuevos registros de hongos del estado de Veracruz, II. Algunos Agaricales" [New records of fungi from the state of Veracruz Mexico II. Some Agaricales]. Revista Mexicana de Micología (in Spanish). 2: 73–84. ISSN0187-3180.
