100 Species #52: Psathyrella

[urbpan]

This lovely group of Psathyrella sp. mushrooms is beneath one of our eastern white pines.

Few fleshy fungi have less to offer the average mushroom hunter--not to mention the average human being--than the Psathyrellas. They constitute an immense, monotonous, and metagrobolizing multitude of dull whitish, buff, grayish, or brownish mushrooms with a fragile stem, fragile flesh, and purple-brown to blackish spores. … Some Psathyrellas are quite attractive, however, and all have their indispensable 'roles' to fulfill.



Psathyrellas are largely wood inhabiters, but often appear terrestrial because they feed on wood in the final stages of decay, after all the other wood-lovers have had their fill. …



Most of them can only be identified if one has a microscope plus a special fondness for esoteric undertakings. My advice is to leave the Psathyrellas to professional psathyrellologists, who are paid to wrestle with such matters.

David Arora, Mushrooms Demystified, p. 361



Suffice it to say, I posted these pictures to Facebook, and mycologist Noah Siegel made the identification.