History of Name:
Laccaria maritima
Hygrophorus maritimus Teodorowicz, Grzyby wyzsze polskiego wybrzeza, Towarzystwo
naukowe w Toruniu Badania Przyrodnicze Pomorskie 2: 31. 1936. Laccaria trullissata
(Ellis) Peck subsp. maritima (Teod.) Andersson in Bot. Not. Suppl. 2: 33.
1950. Laccaria maritima (Teodorowicz) Singer in Sydowia 15: 133. 1961. (not
val. publ.; basionym lacking). Laccaria maritima (Teodorowicz) Singer ex
Huhtinen, Fungi Canad. 319. 1987.
Laccaria trullissata (Ellis) Peck forma rugulospora M. Lange in Meddel.
Grønland 147: 30. 1955.
Type: Figure 5 in Teodorowicz, Grzyby wyzsze polskiego wybrzeza, Towarzystwo naukowe
w Toruniu Badania Przyrodnicze Pomorskie 2: 31. 1936. (lectotype fide Mueller,
1991a).
Species Synopsis:
Pileus up to 45 mm diam, non striate, dark reddish brown to reddish orange-brown.
Lamellae pinkish flesh color to vinaceous. Stipe large and robust, concolorous with
pileus, mostly covered in sand. Cheilocystidia not observed. Basidia 4-sterigmate.
Basidiospores mostly 11.5-17 x 7.5-9.5 µm, oblong to subfusiform, finely echinulate;
spines 0.2-0.5 µm long. Reported from a few sites in eastern Canada. In sand
dunes or very sandy soil.
Habitat and Distribution:
Scattered to gregarious; terrestrial, in sand including dunes; with or without apparent
ectomycorrhizal associate. Only reported from a few sites in eastern Canada. Known
primarily from northern Europe. See Specimens
Examined for the list of species studied.
Observations:
Laccaria maritima is characterized by its restricted habitat, dark
reddish brown pileus color, vinaceous-tinged lamellae, stipe buried in sand, and
elongate, finely echinulate basidiospores. Collections of L. trullissata
have larger basidiomata with deep violet lamellae and larger, more elongate (mostly
14-21.5 x 5.5-9 µm), finely roughened, not echinulate basidiospores.
It has not yet been possible to obtain a tissue culture or germinate the basidiospores
of this taxon. Lack of cultures has prevented attempts at in vitro
ectomycorrhizal synthesis to determine the ability of this taxon to form ectomycorrhizae
with putative hosts.
This species has been reported from both coastal and inland dunes of northern Europe,
the Netherlands, and Greenland (e.g., Teodorowicz, 1936; Andersson, 1950; Lange,
1955; Singer, 1961; Kallio & Heikkilä, 1963; Høiland, 1976; Vellinga,
1982). Huhtinen (1987) reports it for the first time from North America where L.
trullissata is found much more commonly in sand dunes than Laccaria
maritima.
Macromorphology:
Pileus up to 45 mm broad, convex to plane, becoming uplifted, often depressed,
non-striate or translucent-striate when fresh, glabrous to finely fibrillose, slightly
viscid, hygrophanous, dark reddish brown to reddish orange-brown. Lamellae
adnate to subdecurrent, distant, thick, broad, pinkish flesh color to vinaceous.
Stipe large and robust, equal to clavate, dry, mostly covered with sand, concolorous
with pileus. Basal mycelium off-white, hard to determine because of adhering
sand. Basidiospores white in mass.
Micromorphology:
Pileipellis of interwoven hyphae with scattered ± perpendicular individual
hyphae or fascicles of hyphae, terminal cells of hyphae 35-55 x 4-10 µm, hyaline.
Basidia 37-60 x 9-15.5 µm, clavate, 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia
none seen. Basidiospores (excluding ornamentation) [4/105] (10-)11.5-17(-19.5)
x (5.5 )7.5-9.5(-10) µm [ = 13.3-15.4 x 8-8.5 µm], Q = 1.43-2(-2.17) [
= 1.67-1.81], oblong to subfusiform, echinulate; echinulae 0.2-0.5 µm long.