Galerina physospora Singer in Singer & Digilio, Lilloa 25: 381. 1952.

Pileus 7-22 mm diam, convex, broadly conic or campanulate when young, remaining so in age or expanding to broadly campanulate, typically with a prominent subacute umbo; disc smooth; margin incurved to decurved, non-striate or pellucid-striatulate when moist; surface dull, moist to dry, hygrophanous, glabrous, at first brown (6-7E6-8) overall or with a slightly paler margin; disc remaining so in age and margin fading to light brown (6-7D5-6; "hazel"), becoming pale greyish orange (5B4) overall with moisture loss. Context up to 1 mm thick, dingy buff to tan or pale concolorous with the pileus margin. Odor and taste mildly farinaceous or not distinctive. Lamellae ascending-adnate, close to subdistant with 1-3 series of lamellulae, moderately broad to broad (1.5-2.5 mm), slightly convex to straight, ranging from pale brownish orange or brownish orange (6C4-6) to brown (7E7). Stipe 10-30 X 1.5-3.0 (apex) X 2.5-4.0 (base) mm, central, equal above a subbulbous base or clavate, pliant, tough, stuffed to hollow, dull, moist to dry, silky-canescent, concolorous with the pileus; partial veil cortinate when young, buff, dingy buff or pale greyish orange, leaving a persistent (seldom evanescent) superior zone of fibrils.
Basidiospores 7.0-9.0 X (4.2-)4.5-5.0 µm [range of means = 8.0-8.4 X 4.6-4.9 µm, mean of means = 8.2 ± 0.3 X 4.7 ± 0.2 µm, Q = 1.6-1.9, Q mean = 1.72 ± 0.01, n = 25 spores per 2 specimens], ellipsoid to amygdaliform, rusty brown, very coarsely verrucose-roughened, with a prominent loosened perispore up to 1 µm thick (not included in spore measurements), with a distinct smooth plage; germ pore absent. Basidia 24-32 X 6.5-8.0 µm, subclavate, 4-spored. Basidioles subclavate. Cheilocystidia 20-40 X (5.5-)8.0-14.5(-16.0) µm, numerous, often in clusters along fertile lamellar edge, subclavate, clavate to broadly clavate, seldom nearly sphaeropedunculate; walls hyaline, ranging from thin to 1.3 µm thick; a few with brownish orange contents or incrusted with pale yellow pigment. Pleurocystidia (52-)64-80 X 11-15(-20) µm (at broadest), scattered, uncommon to relatively common, fusoid-ventricose to lageniform; apex obtuse, non-capitate or rarely subcapitate and then with capitulum 5.5-10.0 µm diam, hyaline, thin-walled, projecting well beyond the basidioles. Pileipellis a cutis; hyphae 3.0-9.5(-13.0) µm diam, repent, radially arranged, subparallel to slightly interwoven, with coarse granular to annular brownish orange pigment incrustations; walls thin, hyaline to pale brownish orange, nongelatinous; pilocystidia absent (i.e., terminal cells repent and not differentiated from subtending hyphae). Tramal hyphae interwoven, 4-16 µm diam, cylindric to inflated, thin-walled (up to 0.5 µm), hyaline or pale yellow, inamyloid, nongelatinous, smooth. Stipe tissue monomitic; cortical hyphae 2.5-8.0 µm diam, parallel, cylindric, smooth or with granular incrustations, thin-walled, nongelatinous; walls and incrustations yellow to pale tawny; medullary hyphae 3-12 µm diam, smooth, hyaline to pale yellow. Stipitipellis at stipe apex of a few loosely interwoven hyphae undifferentiated from cortical hyphae, with repent to erect terminal cells similar to the cheilocystidia. Partial veil hyphae filamentous, 1.5-3.5 µm diam, cylindric, nonincrusted, nongelatinous, hyaline, thin-walled. Clamp connections common in all tissues.
Habit, habitat and distribution in the Hawaiian Islands. Scattered to gregarious on wood of Eucalyptus sp. or hau (Hibiscus tiliaceus L.; Malvaceae) in introduced Eucalyptus Forests or Coastal Wet Shrublands (Hau Shrubland). Jan. Kaua`i, Moloka`i.
World distribution. Argentina and the Hawaiian Islands.
Selected descriptions and illustrations. Singer & Digilio, 1952; Smith & Singer, 1964.
Specimens Examined. ARGENTINA. Prov. Tucumán, Parque Aconquija, 10 Jul. 1949, R. Singer T.597 (HOLOTYPE, LIL). U.S.A. HAWAII: Kaua`i, Wailua, Kaehua Arboretum, 4 Jan. 1994, DEH 348. Moloka`i, Kamakou Forest Preserve, N21°ree; 07' 27.0", W156°ree; 55' 05.1", ca 1120 m elev., 11 Jan. 1994, coll. by D. E. Hemmes, DED 6045 (ZT 5212).
Commentary. Galerina physospora is characterized by rather robust basidiomata with a cortinate to submembranous partial veil, relatively small and coarsely warted basidiospores with a distinct perispore, clavate to vesiculose cheilocystidia, broadly lageniform pleurocystidia, and by its growth on rotten wood of broad-leaved trees. The Hawaiian specimens differ subtly from the holotype specimen collected in Tucumán, Argentina (LIL!), in having slightly shorter basidiospores with a more distinct perispore. The vesiculose cheilocystidia of G. physospora suggest affinities with subsect. Bulluliferinae A. H. Smith & Singer (1958) of sect. Mycenopsis A. H. Smith & Singer, although Smith & Singer (1964) place the species in sect. Naucoriopsis Kühner, stirps Marginata (sensu A. H. Smith & Singer, 1964). Galerina physospora shows closest affinities to G. peladae Singer (1969) from Chile, and G. majalis Singer (1989) from central United States. Galerina peladae differs in forming dimorphic cheilocystidia, lageniform pleurocystidia with prong-like apical projections, and by its growth among mosses in sandy soil near Fitzroya and Nothofagus (holotype, SGO!). Galerina majalis differs in lacking cheilocystidia, in having consistently subcapitate pleurocystidia, and in growing in soil under oaks (holotype, FH!). Galerina physospora and other members of this distinctive group of species have not yet been reported from the western or south western rim of the Pacific basin. This is the first report of G. physospora from the central Pacific.

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