Mycena leaiana
Mycena leaiana, commonly known as the orange mycena or Lea's mycena, is a species of saprobic fungi in the genus Mycena, family Mycenaceae. They have bright orange caps and stalks and reddish-orange gill edges. Typically found in North America, a variety, M. leaiana var. australis, can be found in Australasia.
The mushrooms usually grow in dense clusters on deciduous logs. The pigment responsible for the orange color in this species has antibiotic properties.
Taxonomy
Originally named Agaricus leajanus by the English biologist Miles Joseph Berkeley in 1845, Pier Andrea Saccardo was later to move it to the genus Mycena when the large genus Agaricus was divided. The species was named after Thomas Gibson Lea, a mushroom collector from Ohio who had sent a collection of specimens to Berkeley for identification.Description
The hygrophanous cap is in diameter, and initially rounded or bell-shaped but becoming expanded and convex with age, often with a depression in the center. The color is a bright orange that fades as the mushroom matures. The surface of the cap is sticky, especially in moist weather, and smooth, while the margin often has striations. The trama is soft, watery, and white. The gills are adnexed in attachment, crowded together, and yellowish in color, with the color deepening to bright orange-red at the edges. The deepening in color at the edges is due to an orange pigment that is contained largely within cells called cheilocystidia. If handled, the yellow pigment will rub off and stain the skin.The stipe is typically long by 2–4 mm thick. The diameter of the stipe is more or less equal throughout its length, although it may be slightly enlarged at the base. It is orange in color, and has fine hairs on the upper portion, and denser hairs at the base. The orange mycena has no distinctive taste, and a slightly mealy odor. The spores are elliptical in shape, smooth, amyloid, and have dimensions of 7–10 × 5–6 μm. The spore print is white.
Mycena leaiana var. australis is a variety of Mycena leaiana found in Australia and New Zealand. In all but the color it is similar to M. leaiana. However, M. leaiana had been found primarily in the east of the United States upon the discovery of specimens in Australia. Given this wide geographical separation a new varietal name was proposed.