On the type of Coprinus candidatus
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Original description
Coprinus candidatus Uljé
Uljé, C.B. 1988. Four new species of Coprinus from the Netherlands. In Persoonia 13, Part 4: 483.

Pileus ad 16 (-20) mm latus, sulcatus, initio albo- vel cremeo-pulverulentus, postea sordide albidus. Lamellae 21-28, liberae, primo albae, dein cinereae vel atro-maculatae, albo-marginatae. Stipes c. 50 x 1.5 mm, albo-flocculosus, basi subbulbosus. Sporae 7.5-11.5 x 4.5-6.0 µm, cylindrico-ellipsoideae, rubro-brunneae, poro germinali centrico, ad 2 µm lato praeditae. Basidia tetraspora. Pleurocystidia nulla. Cheilocystidia 20-40(-50) x 7-15(-25) µm, utriformia, interdum lageniformia vel vesiculosa. Velum in pileo constans ex cellulis globosis, ad 50 µm latis, hyalinis vel flavidulis, tenuitunicatis, granulosis (granula in HCl dissoluta). Fibulae adsunt. Terrestris interdum ad ramulos dejectos. - Typus: 'Netherlands, prov. Noord-Holland: Amsterdam, Amsterdamse Bos, 2 IX 1986, C.B. Uljé 812' ( L).
Etymology: candidatus, dressed in white.

Pileus ovoid to subglobose and up to 8 x 6 mm when still closed, expanding up to 16(-20) mm, white to cream, becoming sordid with age, entirely powdery but at margin somewhat hairy-floccose. Lamellae L= 21-28, l= 0-3, free, first white but soon grey to spotted blackish, with white edge. Stipe c. 50 x 1.5 mm, attenuate upwards subbulbous at base, white-flocculose. Smell absent.
Spores [140/7/4] 7.3-11.5 x 4.6-6.0 µm, Q= 1.60-2.05, av. Q= 1.72-1.88, av. L= 8.6-10.9, av. B= 5.0-5.8 µm, cylindrico-ellipsoid, but somewhat conical towards apiculus, W about equal to B, red-brown under microscope, with central, up to 2 µm wide germ pore. Basidia 15-35 x 7-10 µm, 4-spored, surrounded by 3-5 pseudoparaphyses. Cheilocystidia up to 40(-50) µm long, with 7-15(-25) µm wide ventricose part and 4-10(-15) µm wide neck, utriform to more rarely lageniform or vesiculose, with more or less cylindrical neck and rounded apex. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis consisting of roundish cells covered by narrow hyphae upwards passing into velar tissue. Velar cells (Fig. 2D) (sub)globose, up to 50 µm wide, colourless to yellowish, thin-walled, granular; granulae dissolving in HCl. Velum at margin of pileus and on stipe made up of cylindrical to fusiform or clavate elements. Clamp-connections present.
Habitat. - Terrestrial on bare soil sometimes against fallen branchlets.

C o l l e c t i o n s e x a m i n e d. - NETHERLANDS: prov, Utrecht: Breukelen, estate 'Over-Holland', 19 Sept. 1986, Uljé 807; prov. Noord-Holland: Amsterdam, Amsterdamse Bos, 2 Sept. 1986, Uljé 812 (type, L); ditto, 20 Sept. 1987, Uljé 852; prov. Zuid-Holland: Leiden, 26 March 1985, Uljé 486. (All in herb. Uljé unless mentioned otherwise.)

Among the species of the C. cortinatus-group, C. candidatus is easily recognized by its utriform cystidia and by its usually cylindrico-ellipsoid spores. The subcylindrical shape of the spores, however, is not always very distinct, e.g. in the collection cited from Breukelen and in a collection described by Gröger (1986: 37) from East Germany (as C. cf. cortinatus Lange). In these two collections the spores are also somewhat longer and somewhat stronger attenuate towards the germ pore than usually (Fig. 2Bb). But also in these cases the subcylindrical shape is perceptible in at least some of the spores. Shape and size of the cheilocystidia, however, are the most important indications that these collections with slightly aberrant spores belong to C. candidatus.
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