On the type of Coprinus urticicola
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Original description
Coprinus urticicola (Berk. & Br.) Buller in Trans. Br. mycol. Soc. 5: 485. 1917. Holotype: England: King's Cliffe, on nettle roots, 8 Aug. 1858, Berkeley 1304 (K). - Agaricus (Psathyra) urticaecola Berk. & Br. in Ann. Mag. nat. Hist., Ser. III, 7: 376. 1861 (Notic. Br. Fungi. 44).
Coprinus urticicola (Berk. et Broome) Buller, new combination. Pileus about 5 mm. in diameter in the hemisperical condition, almost spherical at first, becoming hemispherical at the time the spores begin to ripen, opening out and even becoming revolute and radially split during the discharge of the spores, chalky white, unstriate, beset with, numerous small white scales composed of matted hyphae unmixed with globular cells and not bearing crystals of calcium oxalate. Gills very thin, about 0.1-0.15 mm thick, ventricose, maximum width 1.5 mm, at first white then becoming chocolate, the colouration proceeding from below upwards, held together by cylindrical-ovate cystidia which cross the interlamellar spaces as in Coprinus atramentarius and undergo complete autodigestion in the evening and night. Stipe when fully elongated 1.5-2 cm. high, 2 mm. thick below, attenuated upwards, scarcely more than 1 mm. thick at the top, white, flocculent at the very base otherwise smooth, when pulled from the wood to which it is attached leaves a small discoid piece of itself behind, hollow. Spores minute, 7 x 4 µm, oval, smooth. Spore-discharge and autodigestion of the gills take place in the evening and night.
On sticks, also on dead leaves and halms of a grass (Holcus lanatus L), Queen's Cottage Grounds, Kew, June, 1912.
Observations:
Spores [13,1,1] 6.8--8.0 x 4.7--5.8 µm, medium red-brown, ellipsoid; Q= 1.30--1.45, av. Q= 1.35; av. L= 7.5, av. B= 5.5 µm. Germ pore central.
Notes: the type consists of a piece of substrate with only a part of the stipe. A few spores could be traced on the surface of the stipe.
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