Golden bolbitus (Bolbitius titubans)
Systematics:
- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Bolbitiaceae (Bolbitiaceae)
- Genus: Bolbitius (Bolbitus)
- Species: Bolbitius titubans (Golden Bolbitus)
Synonyms:
- Agaricus titubans
- Prunulus titubans
- Pluteolus titubans
- Pluteolus titubans var. titubans
- Bolbitius vitellinus subsp. titubans
- Bolbitius vitellinus var. titubans
- Agaricus vitellinus
Bolbitus golden is widespread, one might say, ubiquitous, but it cannot be called widely known due to its strong variability, especially in size. Young specimens have a characteristic yellow egg-shaped cap, but this shape is very short-lived, soon the caps become convex or broadly conical, and eventually more or less flat. Strong, dense mushrooms grow on manure and heavily fertilized soils, while fragile and rather long-legged ones can be found in grassy areas with less nitrogen.
Not very volatile characteristics that should probably be relied on for accurate identification include:
- Rusty brown or cinnamon brown (but not dark brown) imprint of spore powder
- Mucous cap, almost flat in adult mushrooms
- No private bedspread
- Blades pale in youth and rusty brown in mature specimens
- Smooth elliptical spores with a flattened end and 'pores'
- The presence of brachybasidiol on the plates
Bolbitius vitellinus has traditionally been separated from Bolbitius titubans on the basis of its thicker flesh, less ribbed cap, and whiter stem – but mycologists have recently synonymized the two; Since 'titubans' is an older name, it takes precedence and is currently used.
Bolbitius expansus is a yellow-footed taxon with a greyish-yellow cap that does not retain a yellowish center at maturity. Bolbitius variicolor (possibly the same as Bolbitius vitellinus var. Olivaceus) with a 'smoky olive' cap and finely scaly yellow stem.
Various authors synonymize one or more of these taxa with Bolbitius titubans – Bolbitus golden (or vice versa).
In the absence of clear ecological or molecular data to clearly distinguish the species Bolbitius aureus from several similar Bolbitus, Michael Kuo describes them all in one article and uses the most widely known species name, Bolbitius titubans, to represent the entire group. Among these taxa there could easily be several ecologically and genetically different species, but there are serious doubts that we will be able to accurately identify them by the color of the leg, slight differences in the size of the spores, and so on. Comprehensive, rigorous documentation of ecology, morphological changes and genetic differences in hundreds of samples from around the world is required.
The author of this note, following Michael Kuo, believes that the exact definition is extremely difficult: we are far from always able to obtain microscopy of spores.
Description
Cap: 1.5-5 centimeters in diameter, in young mushrooms ovoid or nearly round, with growth it expands to broadly bell-shaped or widely convex, ultimately flat, even slightly depressed in the center, while often retaining a small tubercle in the very center. Very fragile. Mucous. The color is yellow or greenish-yellow (sometimes brownish or grayish), often turning into a grayish or pale brown, but usually retaining a yellowish center. The skin on the cap is smooth. The surface is ribbed, especially with age, often from the very center. Often there are specimens in which, when the mucus dries, irregularities in the form of veins or 'pockets' are formed on the surface of the cap. Young mushrooms sometimes show a rough, whitish cap edge, but this appears to be the result of contact with the stem at the 'button' stage and not the remnants of a real private veil.
Plates: loose or narrowly adherent, medium frequency, with plates. Very fragile and soft. The color of the plates is whitish or pale yellowish, with age they acquire the color of 'rusty cinnamon'. Often gelatinized in damp weather.
Leg: 3-12, sometimes even up to 15 cm long and up to 1 cm thick. Smooth or slightly tapering upward, hollow, fragile, finely scaly. The surface is powdery or finely hairy – or more or less smooth. White with a yellowish top and / or base, maybe all slightly yellowish.
Flesh: thin, brittle, yellowish.
Smell and taste: indistinguishable (weak mushroom).
Chemical reactions: KOH on the surface of the cap is negative to dark gray.
Spore powder print: Rusty brown.
Microscopic features: spores 10-16 x 6-9 microns; more or less elliptical, with a truncated end. Smooth, smooth, with pores.
Ecology
Saprophyte. Bolbitus golden grows singly, not in intergrowths, in small groups on manure and in well-manured grassy places.
Season and distribution
Summer and autumn (and winter in warm climates). Widespread throughout the temperate zone.
Edibility
Due to its very thin flesh, Bolbitus golden is not considered a mushroom with nutritional value. No data on toxicity could be found.
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