Psilocybe montana (Pers.: Fr.) Kumm., Führ. Pilzk.: 71. 1871.

var. montana

macroscopy:

Pileus 4-16 mm, campanulate, hemispherical to conico-convex when young, soon convex or plano-convex, with or without small papilla, with deflexed then straight margin, finally crenulate marginal zone, strongly hygrophanous, when moist hardly or shortly translucently striate, or distinctly so, up to half the radius, uniformly very dark grey-brown or red-brown when moist (Mu. 2.5-5 YR 2.5-3/2-4, 7.5 YR 3/2-3; K&W 7F5-4, 6F5), not or only slightly paler towards margin, strongly pallescent on drying to yellow-brown or sordid yellow (7.5 YR 5/4, 6-7/8, 10 YR 7/3-4), dry to viscid when moist, pellicle not entirely separable, shining, smooth, without veil or with very minute velar remnants in young stages only. Lamellae, L = 15-24, l = 1-5(-7), moderately distant, broadly adnate with decurrent tooth to subdecurrent, triangular, segmentiform or subventricose, moderately dark brown then dark red-brown, with or without grey tinge finally purplish black to blackish-brown (2.5-5 YR 2.5/2, 3/2, 4/3-4; 6F5), with slightly paler or white, fimbriate edge. Stipe 15-40 x 1-2 mm, cylindrical or slightly tapering towards base, pale orange-brown at apex, downwards red-brown, paler than pileus (10 YR-7.5 YR 5-3/4-6, 7-6/8), darker towards base (7.5-2.5 YR 2.5/2) glabrous, polished or finely fibrillose lengthwise with innate , paler fibrils, rarely with sparse remnants of veil in form of slight annuliform zone and some loose fibrils below, without or with poorly developed basal mycelium. Context very thin, dark brown in pileus, pallid in inner part of stipe. Smell indistinct. Taste not tried. Spore print very dark purplish brown.

microscopy:

Spores 7.0-9.0 x 4.5-6.0 x 4.0-6.0 µm, flattened, ovoid-truncate ovoid in frontal with, Qf = (1.2-)1.3-1.8, Qfav = 1.5-1.6; ellipsoid to oblong or amygdaliform in side view, Qs = 1.2-1.7, Qsav = 1.4-1.5, greyish brown in ammonia, with distinctly thickened walls, with large apical germ-pore, often appearing truncate. Basidia 12-23 x 4.0-9.0 µm, 4-spored. Lamella edge sterile. Cheilocystidia 17-46 x 4.0-8.5, Q = 2.2-[4.8-5.6]-8.6, lageniform with subacute rarely subcapitate, 1.5-3.5 µm wide neck, thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Hymenophoral trama regular, made up of short, inflated elements, 15-70-100(-110) x 3.0-12(-17) µm, with hyaline to pale yellow, rarely minutely incrusted walls. Pileipellis a cutis or up to 30 µm thick ixocutis of narrow, cylindrical, 2.0-6.0 µm wide, hyaline or minutely incrusted hyphae; subpellis compact, made up of (very) short, inflated elements, 20-50(-90) x 4.0-12 µm, with yellow-brown, often coarsely incrusted walls, gradually passing into pileitrama. Pileitrama regular, made up of inflated elements, 20-95(-120) x 3.0-17 µm with yellow-brown, minutely to coarsely incrusted walls. Stipitipellis a cutis of cylindrical, 2.0-7.0 µm wide hyphae with yellow-brown, incrusted walls. Caulocystidia at apex of stipe only, scattered or in clusters, 12-55 x 2.5-7.0 µm, cylindrical to narrowly clavate. Clamp-connections present and abundant in all tissues studied.

ecology:

Saprotrophic or parasitic, often associated with the mosses Brachythecium albicans, B. mutabulum, Campylopus introflexus, Ceratodon purpureus, Dicranum scoparium, Eurhynchium hians, E. praelongum, E. speciosum, Rhacomitrium canescens, Pohlia spec. or Polytrichum piliferum, but also frequently growing amongst Ceratodon purpureus, Climacium dendroides, Dicranella heteromalla, Dicranum scoparium, Hypnum cupressiforme, Plagiomnium indulatum, Pohlia nutans and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus, and/or lichens (eg. Cladonia spp.) in rather exposed situations such as dune-meadows, heaths and tree-less tundra, open Pinus forest, usually on nutrient-poor, well-drained soil; also recorded from burnt soil.

distribution:

Wide-spread and common in cold and temperate regions, probably with circumpolar distribution.

comment:

Psilocybe montana is a very common species particularly in exposed, scanty vegetation of grass with mosses and lichens, preferably on rather poor, sandy or gravely soil. It can be found throughout the year. Psilocybe montana is characterised by the dry to viscid pileus, without separable pellicle, lack of veil, and dark lamellae. Microscopically the thick-walled, truncate spores are distinctive. The size of the spores covers a rather wide range. It appeared therefore to be impossible to differentiate between P. montana and P. muscorum on account of these characters, which was supported also by our crossing experiments (BOEKHOUT & al., in prep.). So Psilocybe muscorum in the sense of most authors is considered to fit into the variability of P. montana. The type-material of P. muscorum, however, represents an insufficiently known species close to P. subviscida. A few collections have been encountered with exceptionally large spores, which come into the range of Psilocybe pratense. Since they appeared to be interfertile with typical P. montana with smaller spores, we described them as P. montana var. macrospora.

Psilocybe montana var. macrospora Noordel & Verduin, Persoonia 17: 256. 1999

macroscopy

Pileus 12-21 mm, convex then plano-convex, with or without obtuse umbo, with deflexed margin, hygrophanous, when moist translucently striate up to centre, dark grey-brown (K&W 7E5), or red-brown (Mu. 5-2.5 YR 3/2-4), strongly pallescent on drying to pale red-brown or yellow-brown (5 YR 5/4, 7.5 YR 5-6/6, 10 YR 7/6), dry, not viscid. Veil absent in mature basidiocarps, but visible as a very thin whitish cortina in very young specimens. Lamellae, L = 18-24, l = 3(-7), distant to moderately distant, broadly adnate to slightly emarginate or with short decurrent tooth, horizontal, not or slightly ventricose, grey-brown then red-brown, finally very dark red-brown (7E5; 7.5 YR 4/2, 5 YR 4/3 to 3/3), with white, entire or fimbriate edge. Stipe 20-32 x 1.5-2.5 mm, cylindrical, straight or flexuous, equal or with slightly swollen base, pale ochre-yellow or yellow-brown at apex, dark reddish brown below (apex 10 YR 7/6-8, lower part 7.5 YR 7-6/6, 5/6, 5 YR 4/3), glabrous in upper part, white striate with some scattered fibrils in lower part. Context thin, concolorous with surface. Smell and taste indistinctive to strongly farinaceous.

Spores 8.5-11(-11.5) x 6.0-8.5 x 5.0-7.0 µm, av. 9.7-10 x 6.0-7.4 x 5.6-6.3, flattened, ovoid to mitriform in frontal view, Qf = 1.2-1.35-1.8, ellipsoid in side view, Qs = 1.4-1.6-1.8(-2.0), with thick (1.5-2 µm) brown wall and large, apical germ pore. Basidia 21.5-28.5 x 7.0-8.5 µm, Q = 2.8-3.2-4.1, 4-spored. Lamella edge sterile. Cheilocystidia 20-40 x 4.5-8 µm, lageniform with long neck, sometimes forked, apex a lways in form of small 1.5-3.0 µm capitulum with seemingly thickened, refringent wall. Hymenophoral trama subregular, made up of cylindrical elements with or without fine incrustations. Pileipellis an up to 70 µm thick ixocutis of cylindrical to slightly swollen hyphae, 1.5-5 µm wide, with hyaline, non pigmented walls; subpellis compact, made up of inflated to cylindrical elements, 35-75 x 3.0-12 µm with bright yellow- brown, incrusted walls. Pileitrama regular, made up of cylindrical to inflated elements, 15-70(-90) x 3-7(-11) µm. Clamp-connections present.

Ecology:

Saprotrophic amongst mosses (e.g. Ceratodon purpureum) on dry, acid, sandy soil, near Sheep dung (but not connected).

distribution:

So far only known from two localities in the Netherlands.