Psilocybe pratensis P.D. Orton , Notes Royal Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 29: 120. 1969. -- Veldkaalkopje

beknopte beschrijving:

Hoed 8-18 mm, hygrofaan, onduidelijk doorschijnend gestreept, rood- of geelbruin, met een dikke gelatineuze, geheel aftrekbare hoedhuid, kaal, zonder velum. Plaatjes donker roodbruin bij rijpheid. Steel 10-20 x 1-2 mm, bleek bruin, met lichtere vezeltjes.
Sporen 8.5-12 x 6.0-7.5 x 5.5-6.5 µm, afgeplat, eivormig tot iets zeshoekig in vooraanzicht, met dikke, bruine wand en grote kiempore.

In kleine groepen, tussen de Helm in de zeereep. Zeldzaam.

Het Veldkaalkopje is te onderscheiden van grootsporige varianten van het Zandkaalkopje door de dikke, vrijwel geheel aftrekbare gelatineuze hoedhuid

uitvoerige Engelse beschrijving:

macroscopy:

Pileus 8-18 mm, convex then plano-convex or almost applanate, sometimes subumbonate, with deflexed margin, hygrophanous, indistinctly translucently striate, uniformly red- or yellow-brown (Mu. 2.5 YR (2.5/2-)2.5/4; 10 YR 4/4), pallescent on drying (centre 5 YR 5/8, middle part 5 YR 6/6, margin 2.5 YR 3/4-6 finally 10 YR 7/6), strongly viscid with thick, separable pellicle, without veil. Lamellae, L = 22-24, l = 3, normally distant, sinuate-emarginate with decurrent tooth, never really decurrent, ventricose to broadly ventricose, red-brown (5 YR 3/3. 4/4.2.5 YR 3/4, 2.5 YR 3/4-2.5/4), with even to eroded, concolorous or slightly paler edge. Stipe 10-20 x 1-2 mm, cylindrical, straight to flexuous, or slightly tapering upwards, or slightly subbulbous at base, pale brown (10 YR 8/4) white pruinose at apex, paler fibrillose-flocculose below. Smell and taste indistinct or fungoid.

microscopy:

Spores 8.5-12 x 6.0-7.5 x 5.5-6.5 µm, slightly flattened, Q = 1.3-1.75, Qav = 1.5, ovoid to slightly hexagonal in frontal view, Q = 1.45-1.8, Qav = 1.7, ellipsoid to oblong, often somewhat amygdaliform in side-view, with thick, brown wall (- 2.0 µm), with large, apical germ pore. Basidia 25-27.5 x 5.5-6.5 µm, 4-spored, clamped. Lamella edge sterile. Cheilocystidia 20-31 x 5.0-6.5 µm, lageniform, with blunt, 1.5-3.0 µm wide apex. Pileipellis an up to 250 µm thick ixocutis, made up of narrow, cylindrical, 1.5-3.5 µm wide hyphae; subpellis compact, made up of inflated elements, 20-75 x 5.0-15 µm with brown, incrusting pigment. Pileitrama regular, made up of inflated elements, 30-110 x 4.0-12(-17) µm. Stipitipellis a hardly differentiated cutis of narrow, cylindrical, 2.0-7.0 µm wide hyphae with brown-yellow walls. Caulocystidia present at apex only, cylindrical to clavate, 12-34 x 6.0-7.0 µm. Clamp-connections abundant.

ecology:

Saprotrophic, in groups amongst Ammophila arenaria in primary dune valleys along the coast.

distribution:

Very rare in western Europe.

comment:

Psilocybe pratensis can easily be distinguished by the large spores and thick, viscid, separable pellicle of the pileus. Psilocybe montana var. macrospora has similar spores, but a rather dry pileal surface without separable pellicle.