Laccaria

Notes

Small fungi the size of a one or two dollar coin with a flattish cap that is usually either pink or violet, always on soil. The stem is central and fibrous, with no ring. They have thick and quite widely spaced gills which are flesh pink or violaceous and in older specimens are covered in white spores. Spore print white.
Laccaria is well represented in New Zealand with 12 species, several of these are thought to be exotic.
Laccaria species are ectomycorrhizal and the indigenous species all occur with Nothofagus, Leptospermum or Kunzea, but unlike most of the other fungi that live with specific trees, this family are thought to be able to survive also by living on leaf litter as saprotrophs. The introduced species are found with pines, oaks, birch and a number of other introduced species. Where they occur they are often in big troops of several dozen fruit bodies.

 

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NZFungi Entry

Laccaria glabripes

The cap is thin reddish brown and striate with an indented centre. The stem is central, smooth and reddish brown, at least three times longer than the cap is wide. The gills are flesh pink. It is common under Leptospermum and Nothofagus. The

Laccaria ohiensis

One of the exotic species.