Getting Into Inocybe

One of the perks I've gotten from the study is that I'm really finding unidentified species, and I'm good enough at the genus that I have a fair confidence in my work. And let me tell you, a picture is worth a thousand words. I've got word and drawing descriptions of many different species of Inocybe, but Fungi of Switzerland includes color photos. You can match it to macro and microscopic features, but there's nothing quite so rewarding as then being able to look at the photo and know you're close.

If you'd like to know a bit more about Inocybe, the name means "fiber head", and the most common variety, sororia, easily fits that picture. More often, the caps are radially fibrillose to squamulose (larger fibrils). Sometimes there's a velipellis, which is like a universal veil, except that it leaves nothing at the base of the stipe, and usually disappears as the mushroom ages. At times the outer layer of the cap abrades away: it excoriates. The spores are some shade of brown to almost black.

I didn't look at it this way when I started my study, but my feeling now is that if you really want to know mushrooms, study a genus. It gives focus to your work, and you'll learn a great deal about mycology.

Should you gather something that you think may be Inocybe prior to the general meeting or the ID class, please bring it in. I'll want to know its habitat: such as tree(s) found near, was it in open ground away from trees, was it in grass or on wood? And where did you find it, such as: north Santa Cruz County, on a hillside; or under tanoak near madrone.

Thanks,

- John Brown, Science Minister