Scleroderma areolatum Ehrenb.

(1.1) Scleroderma areolatum Ehrenb. View in CoL ,

Sylvae Mycologicae Berolinenses ( Berlin): 27 (1818)

( Fig. 3 View FIGURE 3 )

Description:— Basidiomata small, 25–36 mm in diameter, 17–22 mm in height including a stipe 6–10 mm long, subglobose to tuberiform; odor indistinct; taste unknown. Peridium leathery, 0.2–0.5 mm thick, merino white (#F9F5EC), pale dirty orange (#FAF4E3) to pale earthy orange (#F8E8C4), turning reddish to brownish after damaged, with thin, flaky, dirty milky brown (#B7A48D) to coffee-bean brown (#483625) squamules. Gleba compact at first, becoming pulverulent, flint brown (#736960). Basal rhizomorphs moderately abundant, whitish.

Basidiospores {40/1/1} (12) 12.5–16.5 (18.5) [14.04 ± 1.27, 13.50] µm in diameter including ornamentation, mostly globose, rarely subglobose, thick-walled, with echinulate to subreticulate ornamentation 1–2.5 µm high, brownish to purplish, often surrounded by remnants of placental cells. Basidia collapsed. Gleba trama composed of 2–5.5 μm wide, thin- to slightly thick-walled, nearly colorless, compact, moderately branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae occasionally with clamp connections. Peridial squamules composed of 2–4 μm wide, thin- to slightly thick-walled, brownish, moderately compact, moderately to frequently branching, interwoven hyphae without clamp connections. Peridial trama composed of 2–5.5 μm wide, slightly thick-walled, nearly colorless to slightly brownish, compact, moderately to frequently branching, subregularly arranged to interwoven hyphae without clamp connections.

Habits and distribution:— Gregarious, on soil, usually in subtropical forests, associated with plants of Betulaceae , Fagaceae , Juglandaceae , Pinaceae and Rosaceae . Currently known from Asia ( China, Japan & South Korea), Europe ( Belgium, North Macedonia, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain & UK), North America ( Canada, Mexico & USA) and South America ( Brazil) with molecular evidence.

Collection examined:— China, Jiangsu Province, Nanjing City, Xuanwu District, Zijinshan Mountain , exact location unknown, August 11, 2023, Xia Chen & Kun L. Yang, ChenXia 285 -S 23105 ( HTBM0348 ).

Notes:— As confirmed in the current phylogeny ( Fig. 1 View FIGURE 1 ), this species is widely distributed across Asia, Europe, North America and South America.

This species is recorded as poisonous, causing gastroenteritis and psycho-neurological disorder, in a recent checklist of poisonous mushrooms in China ( Bau et al. 2024). It is notable that a species identified as “ Scleroderma cf. areolatum ” was detected in a serious mushroom poisoning incident on June 12, 2022 in Yunnan Province of China, causing the poisoning of nine patients, wherein two were dead ( Li et al. 2023).