History of Name:
Agaricus trullissatus

Ellis, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 5: 45. 1874. Clitocybe trullissata (Ellis) Saccardo, Syll. Fung. 5: 195. 1887. Laccaria trullissata (Ellis) Peck, Annual Rep. New York State Bot. 157: 90. 1912.
Type: U.S.A.: New Jersey, Newfield, no date, Ellis s.n. (NYS!, lectotype fide Mueller, 1987).

Species Synopsis:


Pileus 17-72 mm broad, not striate, fibrillose scaly, grayish purple when very young soon becoming red-brown, brown or buff. Lamellae thick, waxy-appearing, dark purple. Stipe 40-93 X 6-23 mm, covered with sand, concolorous; basal mycelium violet. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia lacking or very scarce, undifferentiated. Basidiospores mostly 14-20 X 5.5-8.5 µm, subfusiform to fusiform ellipsoid, not echinulate, very finely roughened. Eastern North America, in sand dunes or very sandy soil.

Habitat and Distribution:

Solitary to scattered; sand dunes
or very sandy soil; usually associated with species of Pinus, eastern and midwestern North America. See Specimens Examined for the list of specimens studied.

Observations:


Laccaria trullissata is distinguished from other North American Laccaria taxa by its habitat, macromorphology, and basidiospore characteristics. Collections of Laccaria maritima differ from those of L. trullissata in having shorter, less elongate, echinulate basidiospores.
Ectomycorrhizae were synthesized between one isolate of L. trullissata and seedlings of Pinus resinosa Ait. (unpublished data). Intrastock pairings demonstrated that L. trullissata has a bifactorial compatibility system as do all other tested Laccaria.
Laccaria trullissata occurs in sandy areas along the eastern coast of North America ranging from the Maritime Provinces of Canada to North and South Carolina along the Atlantic coast and Florida to Mississippi along the Gulf of Mexico. It can be encountered also in northcentral United States and southcentral Canada in sand dunes along the Great Lakes.

Macromorphology:


Pileus 17-72 mm broad, convex to plane, occasionally depressed, not striate, fibrillose to fibrillose- scaly, grayish purle when very young (near 17B4), soon becoming red brown, brown or buff ("Fawn Color," "Avellaneous," "Vinaceous-Buff," "Pale Vinaceous-Fawn" or "Pinkish Buff") (6A4- 5, 6B6, 7D7 or 7E5 7); margin incurved to decurved, entire to eroded; context tapering to margin, pale purple (near "Light Vinaceous-Gray"). Lamellae adnate to arcuate, close to subdistant, narrow to moderately broad, thick, waxy appearing, dark violaceous ("Dark Heliotrope Gray" or "Deep Vinaceous-Gray"). Stipe 40-93 x 6-23 mm, subclavate to clavate, dry, fibrillose, longitudinally striate, covered with sand, occasionally with outer "cortical" layer splitting near apex, concolorous with pileus; context solid, concolorous with pileus context. Basal mycelium violaceous. Basidiospores white in mass.

Micromorphology:


Pileipellis of interwoven hyphae with widely scattered fascicles of ± perpendicular hyphae; fascicles composed of 10-25 hyphae; terminal cells 33.5-85 x 7-16 µm, subclavate, clavate, broadly clavate or capitate, walls up to 0.5 µm thick, light yellowish brown; contents hyaline to light yellowish brown. Pileus trama tightly interwoven, morphologically undifferentiated, hyaline, light yellowish brown toward pileipellis. Lamellar trama parallel; hyphae mostly 3-17 µm diam, hyaline, light yellowish brown or light vinaceous color; cells barrel-shaped. Subhymenium morphologically undifferentiated. Basidia 30-64.5 x 9-16 µm, clavate, hyaline; sterigmata 4, up to 10 µm long. Cheilocystidia lacking or very scarce and filamentous. Basidiospores [75/5] (13.3-) 13.8-20.2 (-21.6) x 5.5-8.3 µm [ = 15.3-17.3 x 6-7.3 µm], Q = 1.83-3.31 [ = 2.37-2.51], subfusiform to fusiform-ellipsoid, hyaline, very finely roughened, not echinulate; hilar appendix 1.3-2 µm long, prominent, truncate; contents occasionally uniguttulate, rarely biguttulate. Basal mycelium hyphae 3-15.5 µm diam, tightly interwoven, hyaline; cells filamentous or barrel-shaped.