Leucocoprinus castroi is a species of mushroom-producing fungus in the family Agaricaceae.[1][2]

Leucocoprinus castroi
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Agaricaceae
Genus: Leucocoprinus
Species:
L. castroi
Binomial name
Leucocoprinus castroi
Leucocoprinus castroi
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Gills on hymenium
Cap is conical or campanulate
Hymenium is free
Stipe has a ring
Spore print is white
Ecology is saprotrophic
Edibility is unknown

Taxonomy

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It was first described in 2003 by the mycologist Jaime Bernardo Blanco-Dios who classified it as Leucocoprinus castroi.[3]

Description

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Leucocoprinus castroi is a small dapperling mushroom with thin white flesh.

Cap: Usually 2–3.5cm wide, 5cm in the largest specimens. It starts elliptical or conical expanding to campanulate (bell shaped) and finally flat or concave and is very fragile. The surface is uniformly yellow when young but in maturity it has yellow or orange striations with white grooves between running from the cap edge up to the edge of the centre disc, which is yellow to brownish-ochre in colour. The cap is covered in woolly scales (floccose) which are white in the grooves, yellow to brown in the centre disc and yellow to orange elsewhere. Stem: Usually 4.8–8.3cm tall, up to 9.5cm in the tallest specimens. 0.15–0.7mm thick. Yellow to greenish in the top half of the stem becoming paler towards the base with whitish ochre tones. Fragile and hollow and covered in white woolly scales. Sometimes bulging in the middle of the stem. The beige or yellow, membranous stem ring is located towards the top of the stem (superior) and may disappear. It is similarly scaly to the stem. Gills: Whitish, crowded and free. Spores: Ellipsoid with a germ pore. Dextrinoid. 8.5–11.5 x 6.5–8.5 μm. Smell: Pleasant and like aniseed at the cap but like Scleroderma at the base. Taste: Mushroomy.[3]

Habitat and distribution

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L. castroi is scarcely recorded and little known. It has been found in coastal and subcoastal forests of Pinus pinaster trees in the Galicia region of Spain.[3] It is one of the few Leucocoprinus species documented as growing outside in the wild in Europe since most species in this genus are tropical and only spread via human activity outside of tropical regions.

Etymology

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The specific epithet castroi is named for the Spanish mycologist María Luisa Castro in recognition of her study of mycology in Galicia.[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Species fungorum - Leucocoprinus castroi Blanco-Dios, Revta Catal. Micol. 25: 41 (2003)". www.speciesfungorum.org. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
  2. ^ "Mycobank Database - Leucocoprinus castroi".
  3. ^ a b c d Blanco-Dios, J. B. (2003). "Estudios Sobre el Género Leucocoprinus Pat. En la Península Ibérica (Ii). Leucocoprinus Castroi Sp.nov". Revista Catalana de Micologia. OCLC 680406315.