Pinkgills (Entoloma) Home

Indigo pinkgill  (Entoloma chalybaeum)                         ©Per Fadnes

Pinkgills are a large and difficult group, and microscopy is often needed to decide what species is found. It is therefore easy to pass them to avoid the problems. However, it is a beautiful group of fungi, and varies from large fleshy species to small with thin-stem and small thin-headed caps (Noordeloos 1992, 2004). Pinkgills got their names because of the pink-colored spores that, as the fungus grow older, also often give the gills a pink to pale pink color

In grasslands and meadows, Cyanula is the predominantly dominant subgenus, but also species from subgenus Noleana and Trichophilus grow here. The species within the Cyanula group are often characterized by bluish colors on the hat and/or stem. However, the colors change rapidly, and in older individuals, the cap has often become brownish. This means that even though the diversity of species in the grassland is limited, it may still be difficult to come up with the right species.

It must be added that the Cyanula group has been even more difficult after a huge DNA-barcoding project was ended recently. The possibility to determine many of these species is therefore not easy with macro- and microscopically methods, and there has probably been a lot of miss-match earlier. This is one of the reasons why the selection of pinkgills is limited on this website. However, better keys have come from the project supplemented with good photographs of the different species (Noordeloos et. al 2022, Brandrud et. al 2023.)

The subgenus Cyanula has scaly pileus that is an important character to distinguish them from other pinkgills. The scales are not always easy to see, and for many species, a good magnifying glass is needed. The pileus is often striated from the margin to the edge, and on thin-fleshed species, the hat may often be translucent striate. Some species are more or less greyish to brown, also as young specimens, but otherwise have the same characteristics of the pileus. The color and structure of the stem is also an important character, and in many of the species, the stem can be almost "polished". Here, however, we have all transitions from polished to more or less squamulose stems. Some species can have red colors at the basis of the stem, such as the relatively common species of Entoloma exile. The gills are usually white in young specimens, but eventually turn pink. In some species, the gills have a blue tinge, while others have a dark colored edge, which is sometimes serrulated. The spores of Cyanula are relatively similar in size, but one often discriminates between species with spores that are smaller or larger than 10μm. Another important feature is whether the gill-edge is sterile or fertile. That is, if you can see basidium with spores that protrude from the edge (fertile). In species with sterile gill-edge, sterile hyphae, cheilocystidia of different shape, are protruding from the gill-edge. Important species that do not belong to the subgenus Cyanula, but which are important indicators in grasslands, are Entoloma prunuloides and Entoloma madidum. These are large fleshy species different from Cyanula.

Ecology

As the other fungal groups associated with grasslands, most of the pinkgills in this group prefer pastures with long continuity, gazing and lack of fertilization. Non-fertilized grasslands often have a rich and varied flora of pinkgills from the subgenus Cyanula, and they are therefore good indicators of valuable cultural landscapes.
Many of the pinkgills often fructify early, before the other groups of fungi growing here. Some may show up already in late July, and most species have their main presence in August-September. The incidence of pinkgills decreases during the season, compared to many of the other groups. However, it seems that the season for Entoloma in SW-Norway has been delayed by several weeks the last ten years (Fadnes 2023).
Many pinkgills in the subgenus Cyanula are rare and on the red-list of many countries in Europe.

References:

Noordeloos, M.E. 1992. Entoloma s.1 Fungi Europaei vol 5. Saronno, Italia.

Noordeloos, M.E. 2004. Entoloma supplement. Fungi Europaei vol 5a, Saronno,

Italia
Noordeloos, ME, Morotova O, Ima B, Reschke K, Jansen G, Brandrud TE,
        Jordal, JB, Bendiksen E, Vila J. 2022. Entoloma s.l. Flora agaricina neerlandica,
        vol. 1, supplement. subgenera Cyanula, Leptonia, Nolanea, Trichophilus, and
        the /Rhombisporum clade. Candusso Editrice .
Brandrud TE, Bendiksen E, Jordal JB, Weholt Ø, Dima B, Noordeloos ME. 2023.
        Entoloma species of subgenus Cyanula Tricholomatinae, Basidiomycota) in
        Norway, with emphasis on habitat preferences and distribution. Agarica vol 43: 85-137.
Fadnes P. 2023. How long and how frequent is sufficient? Long time study (2003-2022)
        of variation in occurence, species richness and fructification of grassland-fungi in a
        seminatural grassland in South-Western Norway. Agarica  vol. 43: 55-83.

Gulden, G, Bendiksen, E, Branderud, TE, Hoftorn, TH, Sivertsen, S, Smith, O.

2011. Norske soppnavn, 4 utgave. Norges Sopp- og Nyttevekstforbund.

Vesterholt, J. 2002. Fungi non deleineati. Contribution to the knowledge of

species of Entoloma subgenus Leptonis. Liberia Mycoflora, Alassio.