Campanellaceae

© Noah Siegel

Danny’s DNA Discoveries – Campanellaceae of the PNW (Marasmiineae)
by Danny Miller

Introduction

Those species are mostly pleurotoid. They, along with the Omphalotaceae, could be considered part of an enlarged Marasmiaceae.

Unfortunately, there's not much rhyme nor reason to identifying the vast multitude of miscellaneous white spored mushrooms to family, as many mushrooms in different families and even sub-orders lack distinctive traits, so they have to be learned individually. Marasmiaceae mushrooms may have a tough, cartilaginous stem and quite distant gills. Marasmius itself is especially noteworthy for its ability to dry out and revive again when wet. A protective substance seems to keep the cells from being damaged when the mushroom is desiccated, so when it re-moistens, it can revive back to a healthy state.

abundant common uncommon rare - colour codes match my Pictorial Key and are my opinions and probably reflect my bias of living in W WA. Rare species may be locally common in certain places at certain times.

Summary of Interesting Results
Here are some of the newest, most interesting results of the study:

tbd

Campanella/Tetrapyrgos/Metacampanella/etc. - click to expand
Typically thought of as pleurotoid on stems with rudimentary cross-veined folds, but also contains the former 'Marasmiellus' candidus, also found on stems. As noted in the introduction, this does not belong in the Marasmiaceae as currently defined, so the Marasmiaceae should probably be expanded to include the Omphalotaceae.
The paper that segregated Metacampanella noted that if the three genera in this section are kept apart, a half dozen more genera will need to be described. I think it would be better to combine them into one genus, Campanella, instead of necessitating the creation of many more obscure, tiny genera. You might want to think of all these as Campanella.
Species mentioned: Marasmiellus candidus, tricolor. Tetrapyrgos subdendrophora.

'Marasmiellus' 'candidus CA01' - white marasmioid turning pink in age, with a black-bottomed stem, found on sticks. The nomenclature is a mess. Even the original EU species can't keep the name Campanella candida as there is already another mushroom by that name. Ours needs a new genus name. The problem is, this and Marasmiellus tricolor, next, along with at least 4 other species each need their own genus, unless everything in this section is combined into a larger concept of Campanella. If this species goes into Campanella, it must be given a new species epithet as Campanella candida is already taken. Marasmiellus has gone away, replaced by the older name Collybiopsis. Our DNA is 2% different than EU DNA. Eastern NA might have their own unique species too.

'Marasmiellus' 'tricolor PNW01' - as with 'Marasmiellus' candidus, this would need its own unique genus name if this whole section isn't considered to be a wider concept of Campanella. It is similar to the above species, but with a somewhat textured cap and growing on the ground in fens (thus the stems will not curve). It was not known before one OR sequence popped up, although CA has a similar species. Our sequences are over 1% different than EU and ENA sequences, and the type is probably from either the EU or ENA.

'Marasmiellus' 'candidus CA01' © Daniel Winkler and Danny Miller, 'Marasmiellus' 'tricolor PNW01' © Connor Dooley

Metacampanella subdendrophora BC (=Tetrapyrgos subdendrophora) - <1 cm across growing on grasses and herbaceous stems with cross-veined rudimentary gills and a tiny off-centre stem. It can stain dark bluish grey and the flesh is somewhat gelatinous. ITS suggested this needed its own genus outside of both Campanella and Tetrapyrgos, and a 2-gene ITS and LSU study confirmed it. The new genus was going to be called Pseudocampanella but they decided on Metacampanella. However, that very paper showed that Campanella will need to be split much more unless everything in this section is considered to be Campanella, which I think it should.
Metacampanella washingtonensis n.p. ("veiny") - very similar but larger, >1 cm across, probably even more cross-veined and usually without a stem, growing on wood. This has the same ITS sequence as the former species and can't be distinguished by that gene.

Metacampanella subdendrophora © Fred Rhoades, M. washingtonensis n.p. "veiny" © Noah Siegel

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