Fairy ring mushroom
Marasmius oreades
An informal survey of the plant and animal life living in or visiting the grounds of Pointfield, Kelso since 2015
Fungi
Cap to 20 mm diameter; domed with slightly in-turned edge and raised umbo; 10 mm tall and rounded; orange-tan in colour when moist; surface dry, leathery and smooth (a little wrinkled and desiccated). Gills widely spaced; white, becoming flesh-colour, broadly adnate but readily detached from the stem. Stem rugged and very stiff; white near cap but slightly darker near base; smooth; tapering towards cap (2.1 mm diameter) and widening towards base (4.3 mm diameter) but no basal bulb and no ring; dry.
Spore print pure white. Spores 7.2-8.2 x 4.2-5.0 um (mean 7.9 x 4.7 um, n = 20); slightly irregular (fusoid to ovoid) in outline and inamyloid. Cystidea usually absent but edge of gill with occasional finger-like cystidea.
In short grass outside greenhouse in June and again in September. In short-grass meadow in October.