''Galerina'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of small brown-spore saprobic

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

-bearing

fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

, with over 300 species found throughout the world from the far north to remote

Macquarie Island Macquarie Island is a subantarctic island in the south-western Pacific Ocean, about halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has been governed as a part of Tasmania, Australia, since 1880. It became a Protected areas of Tasmania, Tasmania ...

in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

. The genus is most noted for some extremely poisonous species which are occasionally confused with hallucinogenic species of ''

Psilocybe ''Psilocybe'' ( ) is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Many species contain the Psychedelic drug, psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin. Taxonomy Taxonomic history A 2002 study of the ...

''. ''Galerina'' mushrooms are typically small and

hygrophanous The adjective hygrophanous refers to the color change of mushroom tissue (especially the pileus surface) as it loses or absorbs water, which causes the pileipellis The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fr ...

, with a slender and brittle

stem Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

. They are often found growing on wood, and when on the ground have a preference for mossy habitats. ''Galerina'' means ''helmet-like''.

Taxonomic definition

The genus ''Galerina'' is defined as small mushrooms of mycenoid stature, that is, roughly similar in form to ''

Mycena ''Mycena'' is a genus of about 500 species of fungi. Rarely more than a few centimeters in width, the mushrooms are characterized by a small conical or bell-shaped cap and a thin fragile stem. Most are grey or brown, but a few species have brigh ...

'' species: a small conical to bell-shaped

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

, and gills attached to a long and slender cartilaginous

. Species have a

pileipellis The pileipellis is the uppermost layer of hyphae in the pileus of a fungal fruit body. It covers the trama, the fleshy tissue of the fruit body. The pileipellis is more or less synonymous with the cuticle, but the cuticle generally describes ...

that is a cutis, and ornamented spores that are brown in deposit, where the spore ornamentation comes from an extra spore covering.

Description

''Galerina'' fruiting bodies are typically small, undistinguished mushrooms with a typical " little brown mushroom" morphology and a yellow-brown, light brown to cinnamon-brown spore print. The pileus is typically

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

and often

, and a cortina-type veil is present in young specimens of roughly half of recognized species, though it sometimes disappears as the mushroom ages in many of these species. Microscopically, they are highly variable as well, though most species have

spores In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual (in fungi) or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plant ...

that are ornamented, lack a germ pore, and have a plage. Many species also have characteristic tibiiform cystidia. However, there are many exceptions, and many species of ''Galerina'' lack one or more of these microscopic characteristics. Ecologically, all ''Galerina'' are saprobic, growing in habitats like rotting wood or in moss. The spores of ''Galerina'' feature an ornamentation that comes from the outer layer of the spore breaking up on maturity to produce either warts, wrinkles or "ears", flaps of material loosened from where the spore was attached to the

basidia A basidium (: basidia) is a microscopic spore-producing structure found on the hymenophore of reproductive bodies of basidiomycete fungi. The presence of basidia is one of the main characteristic features of the group. These bodies are also ...

. This outer layer of the spore often is not complete, but has a clear patch in many species just above the attachment, this clear patch is called a plage. This plage is not evident in all species, and the spore covering does not always breakup in all species, making it sometimes difficult to correctly determine a mushroom of this genus. The specific features that define the genus require a microscope to confirm. In the wild it can be difficult to determine a ''Galerina'' from a number of similar genera, such as '' Pholiota'', '' Tubaria'', '' Conocybe'', '' Pholiotina'', '' Agrocybe'', ''

Gymnopilus ''Gymnopilus'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms within the fungal family Hymenogastraceae containing over 200 rusty-orange spored mushroom species. Description The basidiocarp, fruit body is typically reddish brown to rusty orange to yellow, med ...

'', '' Phaeogalera'' and ''

''. For the most part, Galerinas will be found associated with

moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...

, and this can separate out the genus in nature fairly well. But this identification is more difficult in the section Naucoriopsis, which does not associate with moss, and is a decomposer of wood. '' Phaeogalera'' is a genus that was segregated from ''Galerina'' by

Robert Kühner Robert Kühner (15 March 1903 in Paris – 27 February 1996 in Lyon) was a French mycologist most notable for reviewing many forms of agaric (mushroom fungus) genera. He studied at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, afterwards from 1921 until ...

Phylogenetics

The genus ''Galerina'' has recently been found to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

, consisting of at least three unrelated

clades In biology, a clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach to taxonomy ...

, although not all species were studied and for most currently recognized species is uncertain still in which they belong. Each of these clades corresponds to a subgenus of ''Galerina'', as outlined by Kühner. The great diversity of micromorphology found in ''Galerina'' is probably due to the polyphyly of the genus.

Selected species

'' Galerina vittiformis'' is the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus ''Galerina''. This species is common in beds of damp moss (along with many other species of ''Galerina''). There are a number of variations of this species that have been named over the years: var. ''vittiformis f. vittiformis'' is a 2-spored species; var. ''vittiformis f. tetrasporis'' is a 4-spored form; var. ''pachyspora'' has been collected on

. '' Galerina patagonica'' has a Gondwanan distribution. '' Galerina hypnorum'' is a widespread species. '' Galerina graminea'' can survive in

-free

grass Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...

, unlike many ''Galerina'' mushrooms. It was known for many years as 'Galerina laevis', proposed by

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (31 December 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a Cape Colony mycologist who is recognized as one of the founders of mycology, mycological Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in Cape Colony at ...

. Several ''Galerina'' species are listed by the US Forest Service as "species of special concern" in the Northwest Forest Plan. (Hereafter referred to as "Castellano, ''et al.'' 2003.") These species are considered

indicator species A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...

for old growth

coniferous forest Conifers () are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All e ...

in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

: ''Galerina atkinsonia'', ''Galerina cerina'',Castellano, ''et al.'' 2003
Part 5
''Galerina heterocystis'', ''Galerina sphagnicola'', and '' Galerina vittiformis''.

Toxicity of some species

Many (though not all) ''Galerina'' contain alpha-amanitin and other

amatoxins Amatoxins are a subgroup of at least nine related cyclic peptide toxins found in three genera of deadly poisonous mushrooms (''Amanita'', '' Galerina'' and '' Lepiota'') and one species of the genus '' Pholiotina''. Amatoxins are very potent, as li ...

. '' Galerina marginata'' (also known as "autumn skullcap", "deadly galerina", etc.) is a poisonous species found throughout the temperate regions of the world, in habitats as diverse as forests and urban parklands, wherever rotting wood is found. In 2001, DNA studies found that ''Galerina autumnalis'' and five other species of ''Galerina'' with similar morphologies were, in fact, synonyms of ''Galerina marginata''. '' Galerina sulciceps'', is a lethal species found in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and responsible for deaths there. One study found it more toxic than '' Amanita phalloides''. '' Galerina steglichii'' is very rare, bruises blue and contains the hallucinogen

psilocybin Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...

Identification

The extreme toxicity of some ''Galerina'' species means that recognition of ''Galerina'' is of great importance to mushroom hunters who are seeking hallucinogenic ''Psilocybe'' mushrooms. Species like ''Galerina marginata'' may bear a superficial resemblance to '' Psilocybe cyanescens'' and other ''Psilocybe'' species, and has often been found growing amongst and around ''Psilocybe cyanescens'' and other ''Psilocybe'' species, making identification all the more confusing to the uninitiated. ''Galerina'' can be distinguished from psilocybin ''Psilocybe'' by the following characteristics: * Spore print color: blackish-brown to lilac-brown in ''Psilocybe'', light brown to rusty brown in ''Galerina''. Spore color can be seen by taking a spore print or by looking for evidence of spore drop on the stipe or on surrounding mushrooms. *Staining reaction: Psilocybin ''Psilocybe'' fruiting bodies stain blue to varying degrees when bruised, while ''Galerina'' do not. The strength of this reaction varies with the amount of

psilocin Psilocin, also known as 4-hydroxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-HO-DMT), is a substituted tryptamine alkaloid and a serotonergic psychedelic. It is present in most psychedelic mushrooms together with its phosphorylated counterpart psilocy ...

present in the tissues of the mushroom. Fruiting bodies with little psilocin (such as '' Psilocybe semilanceata'', with high psilocybin and low psilocin content) will stain weakly if at all, while sporocarps with a high psilocin content will stain strongly blue. Only one rare ''Galerina'' has blue-staining tissue, though in some cases the flesh will blacken when handled, and this may be misinterpreted as a bluing reaction. Although these rules are specific to the separation of ''Galerina'' from certain ''Psilocybe'', since mixed patches of ''Psilocybe'' and ''Galerina'' can occur, it is essential to be sure of the identity of each sporocarp collected. ''Galerina'' also present some risk of confusion with several species of small edible mushrooms, notably '' Kuehneromyces mutabilis'' and candy caps (''L. camphoratus'' and allies).

References

External links

by Tom Volk, ''TomVolkFungi.net''

(Archived at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

, 2006-05-14.)
''Galerina autumnalis''
MykoWeb.com

''MycoSite'', University of Oslo, Norway {{Authority control Poisonous fungi Deadly fungi Hymenogastraceae