Laccaria laccata

Laccaria laccata, commonly known as the deceiver, or waxy laccaria, is a white-spored species of small edible mushroom found throughout North America and Europe. It is a highly variable mushroom (hence “deceiver”), and can look quite washed out, colorless and drab, but when younger it often assumes red, pinkish brown, and orange tones. The species is often considered by mushroom collectors to be a “mushroom weed” because of its abundance and plain stature.

Laccaria laccata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Hydnangiaceae
Genus:
Laccaria
Species:
L. laccata
Binomial name
Laccaria laccata
Laccaria laccata
float
Mycological characteristics
gills on hymenium
cap is convex or flat
hymenium is adnate or decurrent
stipe is bare
spore print is white
ecology is mycorrhizal
edibility: edible but not recommended

Taxonomy

The deceiver was first described by Tyrolian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1772 as Agaricus laccatus,[1] before being given its current binomial name by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke in 1884. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin adjective laccatus “varnished” or “shining”.[2] Clitocybe laccata is an old alternative name. Var. pallidifolia, described by Charles Horton Peck, is the commonest variety found in North America.

It is the type species of the cosmopolitan mushroom genus Laccaria; where their relations lie among the gilled mushrooms is unclear, but they are currently classified in the family Hydnangiaceae.

The deceiver gets its common name from its variable appearance. Other names include lacklustre laccaria, and, by the Zapotec people, Beshia ladhi biinii (also the name of other members of Laccaria).[3]

Description

The deceiver is a small mushroom with a cap up to 6 cm (2.5 in) in diameter, convex when young and later flattening or even depressed in the center. It can be various shades of salmon pink, brick-red, or shades of orange or brown when moist or young, and duller and paler when dry. The fibrous stipe is 5–10 cm (2–4 in) high and 0.6–1 cm (0–0.5 in) wide. The irregular gills are widely spaced and decurrent or adnexed, and of similar color to the cap, though whiten with spores as the mushroom matures. The spore print is white, and the round spiny spores are 7–10 μm in diameter. The flesh is thin and has little taste.[4]

Formerly considered a subspecies by French mycologist René Maire, the close deceiver (Laccaria proxima) is a European relative with a fine scaly cap and found in wetter habitats.[5] Microscopically, its spores are narrower and more oval-shaped.

In California, what was thought to be L. laccata under eucalyptus has turned out to be the Australian species Laccaria fraterna.[6]

  • Cap
  • Cap
  • Gills and stipe
  • Gills
  • L. laccata as Agaricus laccatus in Illustrations of British Fungi (Hymenomycetes), to serve as an atlas to the "Handbook of British Fungi".

Distribution and habitat

Laccaria laccata is found in scattered troops in wooded areas, and on heathland often in poor soil. It is very common in all of the northern temperate zones, but tends to favor cool weather. L. laccata is mycorrhizal with several types of trees, including members of the Pinaceae (Pines), Fagaceae (Beech), and Betulaceae (Birch). It is found across Europe and North America,[7] south into Mexico and Costa Rica. Laccaria species are mycorrhizal, and thought by some to be pioneer species.

Edibility

Although small, the deceiver is edible and mild-tasting.[8] It is one of many mushrooms traditionally eaten by the Zapotec people of Oaxaca in Mexico.[3] However, it is important to distinguish it from potentially lethal small brown mushrooms.[7]

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References
  1. Scopoli, Giovanni Antonio (1772). Flora Carniolica (2 ed.). p. 444.
  2. Nilson S, Persson O (1977). Fungi of Northern Europe 2: Gill-Fungi. Penguin. p. 36. ISBN 0-14-063006-6.
  3. Garibay-Orijel R, Caballero J, Estrada-Torres A, Cifuentes J (2007). "Understanding cultural significance, the edible mushrooms case". Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 3 (4): 4. doi:10.1186/1746-4269-3-4. PMC 1779767. PMID 17217539.
  4. Roger Phillips (2006). Mushrooms. Pan MacMillan. p. 102. ISBN 0-330-44237-6.
  5. Lamaison, Jean-Louis; Polese, Jean-Marie (2005). The Great Encyclopedia of Mushrooms. Könemann. p. 83. ISBN 3-8331-1239-5.
  6. http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Laccaria_fraterna.html
  7. David Arora (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press. p. 172. ISBN 0-89815-169-4.
  8. Phillips, Roger (2010). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p. 69. ISBN 978-1-55407-651-2.
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