Omphalia leonina Massee (16 D) Fig. 14 = Xeromphalina racemosa Stevenson and Taylor. This species was collected by Massee in Kew Gardens on a mossy piece of wood imported from New Zealand. All micro- and macroscopical characters correspond with X. racemosa which grows in New Zealand preferably on rotten wood of Nothofagus. Spores oval, hyaline, amyloid, smooth, 5-6 X 3.5-4.5 µ.

ENGLAND: Kew, Botanical Gardens, on wood along with Hymenophyllum from New Zealand, IV. 1898, leg. MASSEE (K, holotype). - NEW ZEALAND: N. Zealand, on logs in woods, leg. Colenso b 138 (K, as "Ag. (Omphalia) epichysium PERS."). - Wellington, Butterfly, 8. IV. 1961, leg. TAYLOR 74 (K, holotype of X. racemosa STEV. & TAYLOR). - Westcoast, Ahaura, Kopara, Ne1son Creek, 18. I. 1968, leg. HORAK (ZT 68141). -Westcoast, Ahaura, 21. III. 1968, leg. HORAK (ZT 68/204). - PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Morobe district, Bulolo, Taun Creek, 10. XI. 1971, leg. HORAK (ZT 71/273).

Description of fresh material collected in New Zealand: Pileus-10 mm, hemispheric or convex later becoming planoconvex or depressed and finally umbilicate at centre; yellow-brown to pale yellow-brown or cinnamon, paler towards striate incurved margin; hygrophanous, smooth, dry, tough, membranaceous. Lamellae (L 6-12, -3) crowded, broadly adnate or arcuate-decurrent; concolorous with pileus or paler, occasionally forked towards margin of pileus, edge even. Stipe-15 x-1 mm, cylindric or tapering towards base, central; pale yellow-brown above, reddish brown towards base, sometimes with concolorous strigose hairs and/or dark brown rhizomorphs at base; apex pruinose, smooth below, dry, tough, fistulose, single or cespitose in dense groups. Odour and taste not distinctive. Context pale yellow. Chemical reactions on pileus: KOH-brown. Spores (5) 5.5-7 x 4-5 µm, ovate, smooth, hyaline, amyloid. Basidia 20 – 30 x 5 - 7 µm, 4-spored. Cheilocystidia 20 – 60 x  8-15 µm, fusoid or lageniform, membranes hyaline, thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Caulocystidia like cheilocystidia or clavate, walls with red-brown (KOH) membranous and encrusting pigment. Cuticle a cutis of repent, cylindric or subfusoid hyphae (4- 8 µm diam.) membranes thin-walled, not gelatinised, encrusted with yellow-brown pigment. Clamp connections present.

On rotten wood of broad-leaved trees (e. g. Nothofagus sp. in New Zealand).-New Zealand,. Papua New Guinea, England (type specimens adventitious on imported wood from New Zealand, Botanical Gardens, Kew).

STEVENSON (1964: 1. c.)

W. COLENSO was the first who came across X. leonina (MASSEE). He collected this small agaric in New Zealand and the specimen was sent to Kew Herbarium labelled as "Omphalia epichysium PERS." (cp. material examined). Unaware of this misidentified record MASSEE (1898: 1. c.), a few years later, observed the same species in a greenhouse at Kew Botanical Garden where X. leonina (MASSEE) was found growing on wood imported from New Zealand. The "natural" area of distribution of this fungus, a common species on rotting logs (mostly Nothofagus spp.) in New Zealand, is not restricted to this region alone since (at least once) it was also recorded in Papua New Guinea. The rather large ovate spores are the most significant feature of this species.

[Notes from Kew Type specimen, PRJ 2010] Kew images.

[Notes from Kew Type specimen, PRJ 2010] Collected in Kew Gardens on wood from New Zealand

[Notes from Kew Type specimen, PRJ 2010] Kew images.

Pileus campanulate, slightly umbilicate, even, glabrous, very thin, extreme margin sometimes slightly upturned, rich tawny-yellow, 4-8 mm. across; gills deeply decurrent, paler than the pileus, very distant, thick; spores broadly elliptical, hyaline, smooth, 5 X 3 µ; stem about 2 cm. long, slender, expanding upwards into the pileus, polished, rich orange-brown, with delicate tawny scurf at the base.

Omphalia leonina Massee (16 D) Fig. 14 = Xeromphalina racemosa Stevenson and Taylor. This species was collected by Massee in Kew Gardens on a mossy piece of wood imported from New Zealand. All micro- and macroscopical characters correspond with X. racemosa which grows in New Zealand preferably on rotten wood of Nothofagus. Spores oval, hyaline, amyloid, smooth, 5-6 X 3.5-4.5 µ.

Pileus 2-4 mm diam., cinnamon, darker at centre and with dark striations. Gills decurrent, concolorous, distant, about 10 in number. Stipe 4-5 x 0.25-0.5 mm cinnamon, thickest where gills are attached, with strigose ball of spreading hyphae at base, attached to dark brown, branching rhizomorphs. Spores 7 x 4.5 µm, amyloid. Hyphae of cap and stipe pseudo-amyloid. Cheilocystidia 30-40 x 3-8 µm hair-like to bottle-shaped (Fig. 58).

In well-rotted log in Nothofagus forest, Butterfly, Wellington, 8.4.1961, G. M. Taylor (type).

Pileus 2-4 mm diam., cinnamomeus (medio fuscius), striis fuscis notatus. Lamellae decurrentes, concolores, distantes, circiter 10. Stipes 4-5 x 0.25-0.5 mm, cinnamomeus, prope lamellarum insertionem crassior, basi massa globosa strigosa hypharum patentium instructus, rhizomorphis fusco-brunneis ramosis affixus. Sporae 7 x 4.5 µm amyloideae. Hyphae pilei et stipitis pseudo-amyloideae. Cheilocystidia 30-40 x 3-8 µm piliformia usque lageniformia.

Typus: G. M. Taylor 74.