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Present
New Zealand
Political Region

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Roussel
Pers.
(Pers.) Roussel
1806
64 ('46')
Fr.
9, 140
ICN
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
genus
Mycena

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Mycena

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Small delicate mushrooms, saprobic on wood. A segregate genus from Mycena, characterised by a glutinous pileus and stipe.

Two species have been reported from New Zealand, only those listed below have descriptions or images available from NZFungi.

Small delicate mushrooms, saprobic on wood. A segregate genus from Mycena, characterised by a globose spores and cheilocystidia and terminal cells of pileipellis being broom-like.

Two species have been reported from New Zealand, only those listed below have descriptions or images available from NZFungi.

Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806

Small, delicate fungi with bonnet caps, the shape of a bell or an upturned bucket. Mycenas come in a wide variety of colours, most are white, brown, cream or yellow, but they also come in bright red, olive, bright blue and sea green. The caps are generally quite small, from as little as 2 mms wide to a big as a two dollar coin. The stems are usually quite long, very fine, central and can grow directly out of wood or be attached to wood, leaves and twigs by hairs at the base of the stem. Some yield a watery, white or red liquid when the stem is broken. The gills are generally quite deep and often arched. Spore print white.

At least 30 species of Mycena have been recognized in New Zealand. Two of these may be exotic, and of the 28 native species described so far, 19 are endemic. There are probably another 25-50 species which have yet to be described.

Mycena species are all saprobes, breaking down wood, twigs, leaves and other vegetation, key players in the process of returning nutrients to the soil.

Mycena species are amongst the most common of the small mushrooms throughout the country. The native species occur in all kinds of habitats, growing on the massive trunks of fallen kauri and other podocarps, to the tiny dead leaves of manuka and kanuka. There are occasional reports of a bioluminescent species, the tiny mushrooms emitting a greenish glow at night.

Another group of small mushrooms common on fallen wood, leaves and twigs in New Zealand are the Marasmius species. Their fruiting bodies are about the same size as Mycena, but their flesh is tough (stems are pliable, compared to Mycena where they snap easily) and the cap is usually flatter in shape.

Small delicate mushrooms, saprobic on wood. Cap conical (at least when young), spores white, gills not waxy (like the Hygrophorus-like mushrooms), fruiting bodies not reviving after drying (like the Marasmius-like mushrooms).

Some authors segregate Mycena into a number of genera, some of which have been used in the New Zealand literature. These genera are based on characters such as the presence and absence of cheilocystidia, of latex in the tissue, of gelatinous caps and/or stipes, spore shape, etc. The genera include Basisopus, Collopus, Galactopus, Insiticia, Prunulus, and Mycenula.

Thirty or more species of Mycena sensu stricto have been reported from New Zealand, only those listed below have descriptions or images available from NZFungi.

Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806

Pileus thin, regular, campanulate, then expanded, usually striate, margin at first straight and embracing the stem; gills adnate or adnexed, white, grey, or pinkish; stem central, slender, hollow; spores white.

The species are as a rule small and slender; colours clear and bright; gills often coloured, but the spores are in all cases white, and in one group the edge of the gills is coloured. Latex, white, red, or saffron, is present in some species, and escapes in drops when the fungus is broken. Allied to Collybia, which differs in having the margin of the pileus incurved when quite young. Most species grow on the ground; a few on wood, twigs, &c.

Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806

A very large genus of usually rather small somewhat fragile fungi, with pseudo-amyloid to amyloid tissues, an epicutis of special cells or irregular hyphae, amyloid, thin-walled spores, and sterile gill-margins with various types of cystidia.

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Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
Mycena (Pers.) Roussel (1806)

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Mycena (Pers.) Roussel 1806
[Not available]

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1cb1943f-36b9-11d5-9548-00d0592d548c
scientific name
Names_Fungi
26 March 1993
22 December 2013
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