Weraroa
Encyclopedia
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s in the Strophariaceae
Strophariaceae
The Strophariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. The family contains 18 genera and 1316 species. The species of Strophariaceae have a red-brown to dark brown spore print, while the spores themselves are smooth and have an apical germ pore. These agarics are also characterized by...
family. The genus was initially described by mycologist Rolf Singer
Rolf Singer
Rolf Singer was a German-born mycologist and one of the most important taxonomists of gilled mushrooms in the 20th century....
in 1958 to accommodate the single species Secotium novae-zelandiae reported by Gordon Herriott Cunningham in 1924. It has been suggested that the genus may represent an intermediary evolutionary stage between an hypogeous (underground) ancestor and the related epigeous (above ground) genus Stropharia
Stropharia
The genus Stropharia is a group of medium to large agarics with a distinct membranous ring on the stipe. The scientific name is derived from the Greek 'στροφος/strophos' meaning "belt", in reference to it...
.
Macroscopic
Weraroa are a secotioidSecotioid
Secotioid fungi are an intermediate growth form between mushroom-like hymenomycetes and closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started but not run to completion...
fungi, meaning that the margin of the pileus
Pileus (mycology)
The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus...
never breaks free of the stipe
Stipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
, making them resemble somewhat a pouch on the end of a stem, or stalked-puffball. The peridium (outer wall), which at maturity is glutinous, may range in shape from fusoid to spherical to ovoid or ellipsoid.
The gleba
Gleba
Gleba is the fleshy spore-bearing inner mass of fungi such as the puffball or stinkhorn.The gleba is a solid mass of spores, generated within an enclosed area within the sporocarp. The continuous maturity of the sporogenous cells leave the spores behind as a powdery mass that can be easily blown away...
consists of elongated loculi that are various shades of brown. The stipe
Stipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
may also be glutinous, and is continuous with a columella reaching and merging with the upper peridium, often with a thin veil-like structure that joins the edge of the peridium with the top of the stipe. The context
Trama (mycology)
In mycology trama is a term for the inner, fleshy portion of a mushroom's basidiocarp, or fruit body. It is distinct from the outer layer of tissue, known as the pileipellis or cuticle, and from the spore-bearing tissue layer known as the hymenium....
is fleshy and may be gelatinous in the outer portion of the peridium.
Cunningham was first to report that the mushroom takes a long time to mature, and specimens can also persist for long times.
Microscopic
Spores are typically from 10–20 µm in diameter, ellipsoid in shape, smooth, and pigmented ochre to brownish. The basidia (usually 4-spored) often envelop their sterigmata in gastroid-like fashion (i.e., enclosed), and may be narrower in the middle with a broader base. ChrysocystidiumCystidium
A cystidium is a relatively large cell found on the hymenium of a basidiomycete , often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are often unique to a particular species or genus, they are a useful micromorphological characteristic in the...
are present on the hymenium
Hymenium
The hymenium is the tissue layer on the hymenophore of a fungal fruiting body where the cells develop into basidia or asci, which produce spores. In some species all of the cells of the hymenium develop into basidia or asci, while in others some cells develop into sterile cells called cystidia or...
, on the sterile surfaces of young specimens, and as endocystidia.
Habitat and distribution
Species are usually found in rainforests or wet grasslands, growing on the ground or on wood; species of Weraroa have been found in New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
and the USA.
Species
- Weraroa coprophila
- Weraroa nivalis
- Weraroa novae-zelandiaeWeraroa novae-zelandiaePsilocybe weraroa , is a hallucinogenic pouch fungus of New Zealand. -Taxonomy:The species was first described in the literature in 1924 by the New Zealand-based mycologist Gordon Heriott Cunningham, under the name Secotium novae-zelandiae...
- Weraroa patagonia
- Weraroa spadicea
- Weraroa virescens
The species formerly known as Weraroa cucculata (Seaver & Shope) and W. erythrocephala (Tul. & C. Tul) Singer & A.H. Sm. (1958) were recently transferred out of this genus into Leratiomyces
Leratiomyces
Leratiomyces is a genus of mushroom-forming basidiomycetes first described in 2008. It includes several formerly described, variously, from the genera Stropharia, Hypholoma, and Weraroa...
. This phylogenetic research also demonstrated the close relationship between the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
W. novae-zelandiae to the hallucinogenic blue-staining group of Psilocybe
Psilocybe
Psilocybe is a genus of small mushrooms growing worldwide. This genus is best known for its species with psychedelic or hallucinogenic properties, widely known as "magic mushrooms", though the majority of species do not contain hallucinogenic compounds...
, particularly P. subaeruginosa
Psilocybe subaeruginosa
Psilocybe subaeruginosa is a psychedelic mushroom of Australasia, which has psilocybin and psilocin as main active compounds.First reported in 1927, it is placed in the section Cyanescens, which includes Psilocybe cyanescens and Psilocybe maire....
. Because W. novae-zelandiae is the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
for Weraroa, this information would suggest that the blue-staining Psilocybes should be transferred into this genus. However, the generic name Psilocybe was conserved (Redhead et al. 2007) with the type species Psilocybe semilanceata. Weraroa novae-zelendiae is, therefore, classified as Psilocybe under the new name (nomen novum) Psilocybe weraroa Borov., Oborník & Noordel. (Borovička et al. 2011).