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LEPTONIA
LEPTONIA
This genus includes a group of rather small, pink-spored species closely
related to Entoloma. The genus is distinguished from Entoloma principally on
the character of the stipe, which is cartilaginous in texture rather than fleshy-
fibrous, but the distinction here is not very clear-cut. The spores are angular,
as in Entoloma. The margin of the pileus is incurved when young so that at
maturity it is usually expanded rather than conical or campanulate. The pileus
is usually umbilicate or centrally depressed. The lamellae are adnate to adnexed
often seceding. The genus is distinguished from Nolanea principally by the
margin being inrolled when young, and from Eccilia by the attachment of the
lamellae.
The species are mostly small and not well known. They are of no value as
food but some of them are attractively colored. Usually they grow on the
ground, occasionally on rotten wood or among sphagnum.
LEPTONIA ASPRELLA (Fr.) Kummer
Figure 251, page 155
PILEUS 1/2-1 Va in. broad, fleshy, convex, becoming expanded, umbiHcate,
gray-brown to umber, hygrophanous, somewhat scaly in the umbilicus, then
fibrillose to glabrous, silky-shining when dry, margin striate, often splitting.
FLESH whitish, thin, fragile, odor and taste mild, lamellae adnate to adnexed
or with a decurrent line, whitish or grayish white, then becoming pink, sub-
distant, He-H i^- broad, stipe 1^-3 in. long, H6~V8 i^^- thick, cyhndric to
somewhat compressed, sometimes twisted, glabrous, smoky brown with a
bluish cast, white mycehoid at base, hollow, spores pink, angular, more or
less elongated, 9-13 X 6-8 m-
Singly or in groups on the ground in woods. June-Sept.
The bluish stipe and the brown pileus which is striate and hygrophanous
are the most distinctive characters of this species. L. serrulata (Fr.) Quel, is
distinguished by the black serrulate margin of the lamellae. L. placida (Fr.)
Quel, is a dark bluish species usually occurring on rotten wood, with a scaly
pileus and dark squamules on the stipe. L. lampropoda (Fr.) Quel, occurs on
the ground and has a bluish black pileus and smooth bluish stipe.
LEPTONIA FORMOSA (Fr.) Quel.
Figure 252, page 155
PILEUS Ys-lYz
waxy-yellowish to grayish yellow, covered with small blackish scales especially
in. broad, fleshy, convex-umbilicate, becoming plane,
in umbihcus, margin striate, becoming somewhat phcate in older specimens,
FLESH thin, grayish or faintly yellowish, odor and taste mild, lamellae adnate,
sometimes with a shght decurrent tooth, broad, subdistant, tinged yellow,
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