Hygrophorus chrysodon

Reino:  Fungi

División:          Basidiomycota

Clase:  Agaricomycetes

Orden: Agaricales

Familia:           Hygrophoraceae

Género:           Hygrophorus

Especie:          H. chrysodon

(Batsch) Fr.1

Hygrophorus chrysodon es un hongo basidiomiceto comestible de la familia Hygrophoraceae que habita en suelos calizos, normalmente en bosques de frondosas con cierto nivel de humedad. El cuerpo fructífero aflora en verano y otoño. El basónimo de esta especie es Agaricus chrysodon Batsch 1789, y su epíteto específico chrysodon significa "diente de oro". Su seta es comestible.

Posee un sombrero de unos 7 centímetros de diámetro, convexo al principio y aplanado más adelante, de textura viscosa en ambientes húmedos. Es de color blanco, cubierto con pequeñas manchas amarillentas y con el filo de color amarillo. Tiene láminas blancas, adnatas —es decir, adheridas al pie.

El estipe mide unos 6 centímetros de longitud y unos 1,5 de diámetro, es de color blanco y presenta como característica una banda formada por pequeñas manchas amarillas. La carne es blanca o amarillenta, sin olor y de sabor dulce. La esporada es blanca.

When fresh, Hygrophorus chrysodon is a gorgeous white waxy cap delicately decorated with yellow flakes on the cap margin and the stem apex. With age, however, the yellow ornamentation can fade--or, the cap can become more or less yellow overall.

Applying a drop of KOH to the mushroom's surfaces produces a bright yellow reaction, and this is one of the best ways to identify the species when it is not being picturesque.

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers (and rarely reported with hardwoods on the West Coast); growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall (over winter in warmer climates); widely distributed in North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Colorado and California.

Cap: 1.5-6 cm; convex when young, becoming broadly convex, broadly bell-shaped, or more or less flat; slimy when fresh; white when young and fresh, overlaid with yellow to golden or orange-yellow granules along the margin; becoming yellow overall with age; the margin at first inrolled.

Gills: Broadly attached to the stem or beginning to run down it; close or nearly distant; white; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 3-10 cm long; 3-12 mm thick; equal above, but tapering to base; when fresh sheathed with slime, at least over the lower portion; the apex dotted with granules like those on the cap margin, sometimes aggregated into an imperfect ring zone; whitish overall.

Flesh: White; unchanging; soft.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, or somewhat unpleasant; taste not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH bright yellow on stem, cap surface, or flesh.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 3.5-4.5 µ; smooth; long ellipsoid; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 4-sterigmate; 45-55 µ long. Hymenial cystidia absent. Lamellar trama divergent. Pileipellis an ixocutis.