Limacella illinita sensu H. V. Smith

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name	Limacella illinita sensu H. V. Smith
name status	sensu
intro	H. V. Smith's conception of Limacella illinita was based entirely on material collected in southeastern Canada and a few, mostly northern or Pacific coastal, states of the U.S. She described two varieties of L. illinita largely by telling how they differed from L. illinita in her sense of the name. Hence, as we try to develop a greater understanding of the genus, its subdivisions, and its taxa, it is useful to create this page as one of the "stakes in the ground" for Limacella studies in North America.
cap	In L. illinita sensu H. V. Smith, the white or whitish, slimy cap is 20 - 70 mm wide and may sometimes be tinged with yellow in the middle. Smith notes that the cap seems faintly "fibrillose-streaked" beneath the layer of clear, colorless slime. It may be ovoid when young, and becomes bell-shaped or more broadly flattened and may then have a slight umbo. The cap's flesh is thin, relatively soft, and white. Slime may drip from the cap in wet weather.
gills	The free gills of this species are closely spaced, white to creamy white, and up to a bit over 10 mm. Nothing is known about the presence, form, or quantity of short gills.
stem	The white or whitish stem of this species is 50 - 90 × 3 - 8 mm and narrows slightly toward its top. The stem has a rather narrow "ring zone" of fibrils that soon disappears. Above this zone the stem is silky; and below the zone the stem has a thick coat of gluten.
odor/taste	Smith reported that neither the odor nor taste of this species was distinctive.
spores	The spores of L. illinita sensu H. V. Smith measure 5 - 6.3 × 4.5 - 5.5 μm and are subglobose to broadly ellipsoid and inamyloid. All species of Limacella have clamps at the bases of their basidia.
discussion	Fresh material of all taxa in Limacella are needed to improve our understanding of the genus. The reader may also wish to view the taxon pages for Zhuliangomyces illinitus, Limacellla illinita var. argillaceae, L. illinita var. rubescens, Z. subillinita, Z. sp-CMP0152, and Z. sp-L-T01.—R. E. Tulloss
brief editors	RET

name

Limacella illinita sensu H. V. Smith

author

H.V. Sm., 1945. Pap. Michigan Acad. Sci. 30: 135.

name status

sensu

GenBank nos.

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accession	locus	voucher	source



No data available in table

intro

Olive text indicates a specimen that has not been thoroughly examined (for example, for microscopic details) and marks other places in the text where data is missing or uncertain.

The following material is derived from (H. V. Smith 1945).

pileus

20 - 70 mm wide, pure white or whitish, at times with disc tinged with yellow, "apparently faintly fibrillose-streaked beneath" gluten, ovoid to obtuse when young, becoming campanulate to planar or retaining slight umbo; context thin, relatively soft, white; margin not described; gluten layer hyaline, colorless, often dripping from margin in wet weather.

lamellae

free, close, white to creamy white, narrow or becoming moderately broad (up to 10⁺ mm broad), with edges even; lamellulae not described.

stipe

50 - 90 × 3 - 8 mm, white or whitish, slightly narrowing upward, silky above "annular zone"; bulb not described; context not described; partial veil as "slight annular fibrillose but soon evanescent zone"; gluten layer as thick coat below annular zone.

odor/taste

Odor and taste not distinctive.

macrochemical
tests

none decribed.

pileipellis

probably absent.

pileus context

Smith (1945): "very loosely floccose"; clamps present.

lamella trama

Smith (1945): [bilateral,] divergent, with distinct central stratum; "divergent hyphae rather large and loosely arranged."

subhymenium

not described.

basidia

Smith (1945): 20 - 26 × 3 - 4 μm, 4-sterigmate; clamps probably present].

gluten layer

Smith (1945): "of gelatinous hyphae 3 - 4 μm in diameter and about 120 μm long, forming a compact turf, hyaline." [Note: Despite calling the gluten on the stipe a "veil," the gluten on the pileus is described as "pellicle of pileus." Possibly, the length of the hyphae refers to the length of a terminal cell, but this must be established by looking at Smith's material.—ed.]

stipe context

not described.

partial veil

not described.

lamella edge tissue

probably fertile.

basidiospores

send to graphing tool

Smith (1945): [-/-/-] 5 - 6.3 × 4.5 - 5.5 μm, (est. Q = 1.10 - 1.15), inamyloid, "globose" [to subglobose] to broadly ellipsoid; apiculus "distinct"; contents not described; color in deposit not recorded.

ecology

Smith (1945): Single, scattered, or gregarious. "On soil under hardwoods or conifers, on forest debris on humus under bracken fern, on mossy soil in cedar swamps, and in fields or under beech on sand dunes."

material examined

Smith (1945): No specific collection were cited. The species is said to be "known" from Québec, Canada from the U.S. states of New York, Michigan, California, Oregon, and Washington.

discussion

Smith (1945): "Because of the copious gluten which covers the pileus and stipe, and the soft flesh, this species is difficult to collect and photograph. It is one of the two relatively common species of Limacella and occasionally occurs in considerable abundance under the luxuriant growth of bracken fern which soon overruns all clearings in the forest of our Pacific Coast region if the land is neglected. Dried specimens of var. typica [sic] are white or only very slightly yellowish, whereas in the the following two varieties the colors are darker, at least in some parts." [Note: This descriptions was followed by the protologs for L. illinita vars. argillacea and rubescens.—ed.]

The author reports that neither pleurocystidia nor cheilocystidia were noted.

Among white-capped taxa of sect. Lubricae with similar spores, the closest match on the grounds of similarity of spore size and shape is L. subillinita. The spore data on the present taxon will definitely benefit from revision. Making the best of what is available, a three-way comparison of sporographs is provided in the following figure:

citations

—R. E. Tulloss

editors

RET

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name	Limacella illinita sensu H. V. Smith
name status	sensu

name	Limacella illinita sensu H. V. Smith

name	Limacella illinita sensu H. V. Smith

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