Introduction to the Study of Entoloma

Good material facilitates identification. The following recommendations are made:

● Collect fresh specimens only, preferably both young and old fruitbodies. Be sure to collect the entire mushroom, inclusive of the stipe-base.

● Be careful not to mix up different species. Many Entoloma species, especially those from grassland, grow together on a quite small spot. Make a note of the habitat: type of vegetation, dominant trees, shrubs, herbs and mosses. Give a characterization, if possible, of the soil-type. Ideally take a colored photograph.

● Be aware of color-changes during transport and storage. In many taxa the colored can change rapidly, not only because of the hygrophanous character of the pileus, but also subtle colors (especially blue, violaceous, pink etc.) may change or disappear. The best way is to make a note in the field, make a comparison with a colored chart, and make a colored photograph.

● Note the smell and taste in the field and compare it with the smell and taste after transport in a small container. Temperature may have a big influence on these characters.

● Transport the fruitbodies of each collection separately in small boxes, carefully packed with some mosses or other soft material, so that they arrive home safely and undamaged. Do not collect small species in a basket.

If you want to name the species at a later stage, after they have been dried, or if you want to save your material for deposit in your herbarium, make a full description of all macroscopic characters, which disappear with drying. Make a habit sketch in pencil. This is very useful, even if you have taken a photograph. How ever nice your colored-slide may be, diagnostic characters often cannot be verified with certainty from it. Making a standard description for all your collections makes critical comparison easier and facilitates identification.

There are several ways of doing this, but it is important to always do it in the same way. Some people use pre-printed forms, other people write the description down for each collection. One of the advantages of a pre-printed form is that you will not easily forget to note a character. When making a description without a form, always use the same order. This also helps you not to forget things. For Entoloma the author uses the following order in his descriptions in this book:
Pileus [size in cm] [shape] [margin] [center] [hygrophaneity] [translucency] [colored when moist] [colored when dry] [surface structure]. Lamellae [spacing, preferably L = 00-00 (number of entire lamellae), l = 00-00 (number of short lamellae), [insertion on stipe] [shape] [colored of sides] [shape and colored of edge] [other characteristics: veins on sides (transvenose) or veins between lamellae (intervenose). Stipe [dimensions in mm, length x width] [shape: cylindrical, compressed etc.] [shape of base: swollen, tapering etc.] [colored] [surface structure (glabrous, fibrillose-striate, squamulose etc.] [basal tomentum] [context, colored, consistency] [smell] [taste] [spore print colored].

To make sure that your nice and freshly collected specimens can be studied in a dried state, it is important to dry them as quickly as possible after collecting and describing them. Use a drying method with good ventilation and a moderate temperature, preferably not above and not much below 40 degrees Celsius. Store the material after drying in envelopes with a label. On this label write with permanent ink or type the following data: Name of Mushroom, name of collector, name of locality, date, and collecting number. In case you keep your notes and descriptions separately, give all items the same collecting number. Store your herbarium in a cool, dry place. Be aware of insects. Deep freezing for 3 days at minus 25 degrees Celsius proves to be a good conservation method.

For the study of the various microscopical characters the following methods are recommended:

Spores, hymenial structures like basidia, cystidia, and also clamp-connections

Stain with Congo Red . [1% Congo Red in concentrated ammonia]:

● Fresh material: put a fragment of the lamella in Congo Red, let it stain a few minutes and observe.

● Dried material: put a fragment of the lamella in Congo Red, let it stain a few minutes. It may be necessary, particularly with old, or badly dried material, to warm it a bit with a small flame. Remove the excess Congo Red with a filter paper, and replace it with a 5-10 % KOH solution. Observe in this medium.

In both cases be careful, and do not press the cover slip too much, leaving the fragment intact. Observe first with low magnification, to locate the structure you want to make visible. If you cannot see them properly, push gently on the cover slip until the hymenial elements lie free in the medium. The KOH makes this process easier.

Pileipellis structure and pigmentation:

● Fresh material: make a radial section of the pileipellis, and observe in water, or better, in a saturated sugar or salt solution to make intracellular pigment more clearly visible.

● Dried material: make a radial section of the pileipellis, and observe in 10 % ammonia. Do not use KOH, except in very old material that does not respond well to the ammonia treatment.

Be careful not to press the cover slip too much, in order not to change the orientation of the hyphae. When you have determined the structure of the pileipellis, you may press a bit to have a close look as the size and shape of the hyphal elements and the pigmentation.