Mycena mariae Stevenson (29 D) Fig. 15 = Galactopus morris-jonesii (Stevenson) Horak

Spores oval, hyaline, amyloid, smooth, 8-11.5 X 5-6 µ. Cheilo- and pleurocystidia fusoid or awl-shaped, thin-walled, filled with a reddish cell sap, 55-75 X 10-16 µ.

Spores 8.5-11.5 X 5.5-7 (9.1 X 6.3) µm., Q=1.4, distinctly elliptical to elliptic elongate, variable in size, collapsing-easily, strongly amyloid, walls becoming eroded during drying. Cheilocystidia 50-65 X 9-13 µm., narrow fusoid, fusoid-ventricose to lageniform, some sharply pointed apically, yellow-brown in KOH. Pleurocystidia like cheilocystidia, infrequent. Basidia short and fat (20 X 10 µm.) with 2 or 4 plump sterigmata. Trama of inflated cells (-15 µm. diam.), dextrinoid in Melzer's, with numerous lactifers, narrow hyphae with dark red (in KOH) contents. Subhymenium a narrow zone of narrow hyphae, strongly dextrinoid in Melzer's. Pileipellis narrow, repent hyphae with narrow, mostly short, simple protuberances, not easy to determine. Sub-pellis of large, inflated cells up to 30 µm. diam. Context of narrow and inflated hyphae 5-15 µm. diam. Stipe of parallel, narrow, thick-walled hyphae, dark coloured; some simple or diverticulate protuberances, especially towards the base. Clamp connections seen occasionally. Dried material dark red to black.

The type material appears to be a mixed collection. There are two pale brown stipes, one attached to wood, which do not seem to be related to the rest of the material. They bear a quantity of brown spore on their surface, rein forcing the impression that they belong to some other fungus. The rest of the material although somewhat fragmented, adds up to two fruiting bodies, as illustrated in Stevenson's painting and these provided the information above Stevenson's drawing of a cheilocystidium of M. mariae is still a puzzle for it is of the Rotalis type which one would not expect in section Galactopoda It could perhaps have been a drawing of a pileipellis element, and there is still the possibility that the collection is a mixed one.

Description of basidiome based on information from a further collection.

Pileus 14 X 6 mm., dull pinkish red, convex, broadly umbonate, smooth to Finely fibrillose. Lamella ascending, adnate with decurrent tooth, 2 series, up to 16 reaching the stipe, pink with a red margin. Stipe 30-40 X 1 mm, concolorous with pileus, hollow expanding slightly towards the base, paler at to darker below, exuding red latex when broken, long brown hairs at the base. Flesh thin, pink in cap, darker in stipe. Smell and taste unknown. Fungus drying dark red to black. The red colour in the basidiome dissolves out readily in KOH and stains the cytoplasm of spores umber.

Microscopically PDD 56757 fits very well with the description of the type, the main variation being in the greater degree of diverticulation in the pileipellis elements and more distinctly diverticulate terminal cells on the stipe (Fig. 8: 6b). The spores were also slightly longer (8.5-12.5 X 5.5-7 (10.7 X 5.9) µm, Q= 1.8).