The Skullcap Dapperling (Leucocoprinus brebissonii) is a small, elegant dapperling whose cap looks like a skullcap. A dark grey to blackish centre on a white cap scattered with fine dark scales and marked with grooves towards the edge. The free gills are white and crowded, and the slender white stem carries a small, fragile ring that often slips down or disappears.
It grows in woodland on rich soil and on heaps of rotting leaves or needles, from summer into autumn, and has a strong, unpleasant smell. It is poorly known and probably overlooked. It must not be eaten: its edibility is unknown, and several small dapperlings, such as the Deadly Dapperling (Lepiota brunneoincarnata), contain the same deadly toxins as the Deathcap.
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Distribution
Not uncommon
Habitat
In woodlands, mostly on nitrogen rich soil or on heaps of leaf or needle litter
Etymology
Leucocoprinus means 'white Coprinus', from the Greek leukos, 'white', after a supposed likeness to the inkcaps. brebissonii honours the French naturalist Louis Alphonse de Brébisson.
Cap
The cap is 3-6 cm across, convex with an umbo and a striate, plicate margin. It is white to pale yellow with dark grey squamules, which are made of irregular chains of cylindric to ellipsoid elements 15-50 x 8-30 μm.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Shape | Convex, Umbonate |
| Surface | Squamose |
| Width | 3 - 6 cm |
| Margin | Striate, Plicate |
Gills
Free, crowded and white.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Attachment | Free |
| Spacing | close |
Flesh
Thin, white and brittle.
| Odour | Strong, unpleasant |
|---|---|
| Taste | Unpleasant |
Stem
The stem is slender and clavate, white to ash-grey, pale grey at the base or with a mass of black tendrils. A small, fragile pendant ring sits near the top and often falls away.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Shape | Clavate |
| Veil | pendant |
| Veil position | apical |
Spores
The spores are smooth, ellipsoid to almond-shaped (amygdaliform), 8-13 x 5-8 μm, dextrinoid and thick-walled with an apical cap on the germ pore.
| Colour | |
|---|---|
| Type | dextinoid |
| Shape | Ellipsoid, Amygdaliform |
| Ornamentation | Smooth |
| Size | 8-13 x 5-8 μm |
Microscopic Features
The cheilocystidia are club-shaped (clavate), cylindrical or utriform, measuring 30-80 x 9-35 μm.
| Cheilocystidia | Club-shaped (Clavate), Cylindrical, Utriform |
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Classification
- ↳ Phylum: Basidiomycota
- ↳ Subphylum: Agaricomycotina
- ↳ Class: Agaricomycetes
- ↳ Subclass: Agaricomycetidae
- ↳ Order: Agaricales
- ↳ Family: Agaricaceae
- ↳ Genus: Leucocoprinus
Synonyms
- Agaricus clypeolarius sensu Sowerby (1777)
- Armillaria subcava sensu Cooke [Ill. Brit. Fung. 57 (47) Vol. 1 (1881)]
- Lepiota brebissonii Godey
- Lepiota brebissonii Godey apud Gillet
- Lepiota cepistipes var. cretacea Grev.
- Lepiota felina sensu Cooke [Ill. Brit. Fung. 1108 (943A) Vol. 8 (1889)]
Reference Sources
T. Læssøe, J. H. Peterson (2019) Fungi of Temperate Europe Vol. 1. Princeton University Press.
G. Kibby (2020) Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain & Europe Vol. 2. Geoffrey Kibby.
Genus Leucocoprinus
No other species found in this genus.
