Garlic Scented Mushroom (Mycetinis Scorodonius) Gourmet Mushroom Culture

Mycetinis scorodonius (syn. Marasmius Scorodonius) is an edible one of the garlic-scented mushrooms formerly in the genus Marasmius, having a beige cap of up to 3 cm and a tough slender stipe. This fungus smells and tastes like garlic, and you can use it as a substitute for garlic in meals. Usually, odors in tiny mushrooms are faint until you crush a cap between your thumb and finger, but this routine isn’t needed with Mycetinis scorodonius. Other garlic-reeking species in North America include Mycetinis copelandii and Mycentinis olidus, both of which differ from Mycetinis scorodonius in having hairy to velvety stems and spores that are longer than 10 µ; the former is found in western North America and the latter is found east of the Rocky Mountains. Other names: Garlic Mushroom, Vampires Bane. Mycetinis scorodonius Mushroom Identification Ecology Saprobic; primarily found on the fallen needles of conifers, but occasionally found on the mossy bark of living hardwoods or conifers, or arising from grass stems or twigs (of hardwoods or conifers) in woodland settings; growing scattered or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Great Plains; absent or very rare in the west. Cap 2-30 mm across; convex, becoming broadly convex or broadly bell-shaped but often developing a central depression and/or bump; dry; bald; becoming slightly wrinkled; medium brown when very young but soon fading to buff or pale tan, with or without a slightly darker center. Gills Narrowly attached to the stem, or rarely attached to a tiny “collar” that circles the stem; whitish; close or nearly distant. Stem Up to 60 mm long; 0.5-3 mm thick; equal; dry; shiny; bald, or with a few tiny hairs near the base; whitish to pale tan, becoming reddish to dark reddish-brown by degrees from the base up. Flesh Thin; insubstantial. Odor and Taste Strongly of garlic or onion. Spore Print White. Microscopic Features Spores 6-10 x 3-5 µ; smooth; pip-shaped or ellipsoid; inamyloid. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia to about 40 x 11 µ;; more or less clavate to cylindric, or irregular; often lobed; covered with knoblike or rodlike projections. Pileipellis a hymeniform layer of subglobose to clavate or irregular cells that sometimes develop fingerlike projections. Mycetinis scorodonius Taxonomy and Etymology The species epithet is a Latin adjectival form of the Greek word for garlic, scorodon (σκόροδον). This species was originally documented as Agaricus scorodonius by Fries in 1815 and in 1836 the same author established its long-standing designation Marasmius scorodonius. However, following a 2005 paper, it was decided to separate a group of garlic-smelling species, including this one, off into genus Mycetinis. Mycetinis virgultorum is (according to Species Fungorum) a closely related species, or (according to Antonín and Noordeloos) a variety within the same species. In the latter classification, the two forms are called M. scorodonius var. scorodonius and M. scorodonius var. virgultorum. The virgultorum form has smaller fruiting bodies, a scaly dull stem, and smaller spores.