Conocybe - click to expand
Little brown dry capped coneheads without a ring (nor any
kind of partial veil). Some Pholiotina s.l. may not have a ring, so microscopically,
Conocybe can be told by capitate cystidia (sterile cells on the gills with prominent round heads).
Species that turn blue are probably not Conocybe, but ringless
Conocybula. At least some Conocybes contain phallotoxins, not as
concerning as amatoxins, but still to be avoided.
Species
mentioned: Conocybe alpala, lactea, aurea, tenera, coniferarum, rickenii,
fuscimarginata, pubescens, semiglobata, fibrillosipes, brunnea,
michiganensis, hausknechtii, pallidospora

"Bowling pin" capitate cheilocystidia of Conocybe © A and O
Ceska
"Colourful" Conocybes (take that with a grain of salt)
Conocybe apala EU (=C. lactea) -
This whitish (at least in age) Conocybe is found in grass. Reliable ITS EU sequences
match a couple of Oregon sequences quite well, one within 1 bp and 1 indel, so we do appear to have this EU species
here.
Conocybe 'apala PNW12' -
one WA sequence is 2-4 bp and 2 chunks of indels different than any other known
sequence from anywhere. It seems to be a high quality read, so I am keeping my
eye out to see if we see this sequence again. A second sequence from the same
mushroom is different, but also distinct. It had a very tall, slender cap.
Conocybe aurea EU - This
has a golden brown cap and somewhat of a paler or brighter stem (compared
to the many boring brown Conocybes). This EU species is found in ENA and
we now have a WA sequence to confirm its presence here too.

Conocybe apala © Buck McAdoo, C. 'apala PNW12' ©
Yi-Min Wang, C. aurea © Yi-Min Wang
Scaly-stemmed
Pholiotina PNW06 "scaly stem, capitate
cheilos" - this species has a distinctive scaly stem. It has
been found twice in WA. The extremely capitate cystidia and lack of a ring make
it key out to Conocybe, but the DNA sequence is clearly inside Pholiotina.
I don't know what to make of this.

Pholiotina PNW06 "scaly stem, capitate cheilos" © Connor Dooley
LBMs - boring brown ones
Conocybe cf tenera - This is what almost every Conocybe in North
America (never mind the PNW) is assumed to be, for some reason, but there's no
evidence yet that it exists here in the PNW. It seems to be a complex of species
in Europe, with DNA varying by 5% or so in the group.
Conocybe semiglobata complex (=Conocybe
subpubescens?)
- our most common species, it has a brownish stem. The similar
Conobolbitina
sp., below, seems to have a paler stem and may be our next most common
species. There are at least four clades where sequences cluster, all within 1.5% of each
other, so unless morphological and/or ecological differences are found between
the clades, this may all be one species. But just in case here are the four
clades:
Clade 4 is
where most EU sequences are of both the type variety and var. campanulatus.
Most local sequences are also in this clade. Many EU sequences of the older
species Conocybe subpubescens fall in clade 4 as well, so it's possible
that C. semiglobata is just a newer synonym, but we'll need type
sequences to prove it. Clade 4 spores measured larger than clade 3 spores.
Clade 1 is 4 bp different found in WA,
clade 2 is
10 bp different found in OR, and
clade 3 is about 6 bp different and
found in OR and WA. Clade 3 spores were smaller than clade 4 spores. We had only have 1 sequence so far each of clades 1 and 2,
and 2 sequences of clade 3. We need an official determination of what this
species is to be called and if it needs to be split into varieties or possibly
even new species.
The more sequences we get the less clear the clades are. Perhaps ITS does not
distinguish varieties or species in this complex. Perhaps it is all one species.
We need more genes and more information.

Conocybe cf semiglobata © Alan Rockefeller and Jonathan Frank
Conocybe 'coniferarum PNW03' -
a sequence 5 bp from the type sequence of this Russian species was a recent
discovery in WA. Notably, it had a small bulb on its stem.
Conocybe 'coniferarum PNW17'
- a sister species, known once from OR.
Conocybe velutinomarginata EU -
with a unique mottled cap and spores 16x9u. A couple of PNW sequences
match a sequence seemingly provided by the author of this species. This sequence
has been given several species names before, so it's possible there's an older
synonym.

Conocybe 'coniferarum PNW03' (note the bulb) © Danny Miller,
C. 'coniferarum PNW17' © Bitty Roy,
C. velutinomarginata (mottled cap) © Yi-Min Wang
Conocybe PNW09 - one WA
sequence is almost 10% different in ITS from any other known species.
Conocybe PNW01/PNW02 - these two
species aren't close enough to any other known species for me to give them any
kind of a name, but they are clearly inside Conocybe and clearly related to each
other. They may be one of the named local species on this page about which
nothing much is known. The first one from OR was from an old burn site (I don't
know if that's relevant) otherwise they were found on the forest floor.
Conocybe pubescens EU - one
WA sequence is a match to reliable EU sequences of this EU species, so we appear
to have this species here.
Conocybe 'hausknechtii PNW04'
- one WA sequence is 3-4 bp and 1 indel different from the EU type sequence, so
it could be that.
It's even closer to one of three genetic species going by the name C. pallidospora, but that sequence
is not likely labeled correctly.
Conocybe cf fuscimarginata EU
- one southern BC ITS sequence differs in a handful of ambiguous places from
some EU sequences of C. fuscimarginata, but this appears to be a complex
of at least 3 species in the EU, so ours does not necessarily match the "real
thing", but it is in that complex. No known photo.
Conocybe 'fragilis PNW10'
- a very rich red-brown at first. The stem isn't always as opaque and
richly coloured as the cap as it is in these photos, but it does seem to be an
especially richly coloured species. If a TN and SC sequence are to believed, we
have found C. fragilis in the PNW. It is a KS species. We don't have a
type, but some people seem to believe that's what the ENA collections are. For
now I'm giving it a code number.
Conocbye PNW11 - seems to
be somewhat olive brown. It is close to some collections labeled C.
cylindracea and C. siennophylla, but I don't know if they're labeled
correctly.
Conocybe PNW13 - with a
somewhat olive toned wrinkled cap (strongly so when fresh) and a cinnamon stem. We have one
WA sequence, different from anything else in the PNW by >1% in ITS.
Conocybe PNW14 - one WA
sequence of very high quality but matching nothing else.
Conocybe PNW15 - one BC
sequence may be close to C. cylindracea, C. siennophylla and/or C.
lenticulospora.
Conocybe PNW16 - one WA
sequence matches an EU sequence labeled Conocybe dumetorum EU, but others
say that is something different.
We have not worked out any clear, differentiating features of these species yet.

Conocybe PNW09 © Yi-Min Wang, C. PNW01 © Bitty Roy, C. PNW02 © Yi-Min Wang,
C. pubescens © iNaturalist user kellim, C. 'hausknechtii
PNW04' © Richard Morrison

Conocybe 'fragilis PNW10' ©
Aaron Hilliard, C. PNW11 © Yi-Min Wang (2 images),
C. PNW13 © Damon Tighe and Yi-Min Wang (2 images)

Conocybe PNW14 © Sharon Squazzo, C. PNW15 © Vail
Paterson, C. PNW16 © Yi-Min Wang
Conocybe 'michiganensis PNW05'
- described from MI as a Psathyrella because it seems kind of halfway
between Psathyrella and Conocybe (it has somewhat dark spores
like Psathyrella, but does have the cystidia of
a Conocybe. It sequences inside Conocybe. In OR we have found
perhaps a sister species differing by 2%, and with a very pleated cap,
which the Michigan species is not supposed to have.

Conocybe 'michiganensis PNW05' © Jonathan Frank
Conocybe PNW07 - this seems to have a somewhat fibrillose cap (not
entirely smooth) with a darker disc. It also has a somewhat two-toned
stem. One collection had a greyish cap. It's closest known relative is
Conocybe 'michiganensis PNW05'.

Conocybe PNW07 © Yi-Min Wang
Also reported:
Conocybe fibrillosipes
WA
- described from WA, but we have no genetics yet. It has capitate cystidia, but
a sheathing veil, which Conocybe does not typically have, so it is just a
guess that this species actually belongs in Conocybe. We have no
purported sequences.
Conocybe brunnea EU
- this EU species was reported by Smith as "rarely in WA" but the spore sizes he
gave don't match that species, so I don't know what he found.