Psilocybe chionophila Lamoure, Bull. Soc. Linn. Lyon 46: 215. 1977. -- Sneeuwkaalkopje

beknopte beschrijving:

Hoed 3-13 mm, gewelfd, hygrofaan, donker roodbruin, doorschijnend gestreept, glad en kaal, velum afwezig. Plaatjes donker purperbruin bij rijpheid. Steel 10-30 x 1-2 mm, donker roodbruin, zonder velum.
Sporen 7.0-8.0 x 5.5-6.5 x 4.5-5.5 µm, sterk afgeplat breed eivormig tot breed mijtervormig in vooraanzicht, met dikke wand en grote kiempore.

In groepen parasiterend op mossen in alpine bergweiden waar de sneeuw net gesmolten is

Het Sneeuwkaalkopje is een typische paddestoen uit de alpen, maar is merkwaardigerwijs ook in Flevoland aangetroffen!

uitvoerige Engelse beschrijving

macroscopy:

Pileus 3-13 mm, plano-convex with low umbo, hygrophanous, obscurely translucently striate at margin, dark chocolate brown when moist (K&W 7F8), pallescent from centre to margin to pale cream-bornw, dry, glabrous, smooth. Lamellae, L = 20, l = 3, rather distant, broadly adnate, up to 5 mm broad, rather dark brown (6E5) with pale, whitish edge, especially near attachment to stipe. Stipe up to 12 x 1 mm, cylindrical to compressed, pale brownish, striate, with pale grey basal tomentum. Context concolorous with surface, darker in basal part of stipe. Smell faint, when cut slightly fungoid.

microscopy:

Spores 7.5-9.0 x 5.5-6.0 x 5.0-6.0 µm, distinctly flattened, Qf = 1.25-1.3-1.55, ovoid to mitriform, rarely somewhat angular in frontal view, Qs = 1.45-1.55-1.7, ellipsoid to oblong, sometimes subamygdaliform in side view, with grey-brown, thickened walls and moderately large apical germ-pore. Basidia (17-)21-30 x 4.0-7.0 µm. Lamella edge sterile. Cheilocystidia 21-27 x 4.5-7.5 µm, Q = 3.0-3.8-4.5, lageniform, often with broad basal part and rather long, tapering neck with 1.0-2.0 µm wide apex. Pleurocystidia absent. Hymenophoral trama regular, made up of cylindrical to strongly inflated elements, 17-70 x 4.0-20 µm, with pale yellow-brown parietal pigment, rarely also finely incrusted. Pileipellis a narrow cutis of cylindrical, 2.0-5.5 µm wide hyphae with colourless walls; subpellis compact, made up of short inflated elements, 15-70 x 6.0-22 µm with strong, red-brown parietal and incrusting pigment, gradually passing into pileitrama. Pileitrama regular, made up of cylindrical to inflated, often very irregularly shaped elements, 5.0-20 µm wide, with practically colourless walls. Stipitipellis a compact cutis of cylindrical, 2.0-5.0 µm wide hyphae. Caulocystidia present at apex, singly or in clusters, subcylindrical to sublageniform, 11-27 x 3.0-5.5 µm. Clamp-connections abundant in all tissues.

ecology:

Parasitic on mosses (Polytrichum norvegicum) in snow-bed vegetations in the alpine zone

distribution:

in the alpine zone, possibly widespread all over northern and Central Europe.

comment:

P. chionophila predominantly has an alpine distribution, but is occasionally found in the lowlands as well. The differences with P. montana are very small.