Taylan: Cap ends have little pieces dangling down or extending out. Gills large and evenly spaced. Growing on rotting wood.
Joe: Mycena haematopus???
Sava: Yes, definitely Mycena haematopus. It exudes (often copious) dark red juice from the bottom of the stem, if you cut it there.
Judy: Just how much does this differ from M. purpureofusca other than the bleeding? The descriptions in Arora's MDM make them seem really close. This photo shows a more ornamented stipe (chevrons) than haematopus usually has. They both have a fluted cap margin, and similar coloring besides both on woody debris.
I'm really curious about these two.
Sava: The stipe ornamentation is fine for haematopus; Taylan's photo show more than the eye would see.
The cap margin is often distinctly crenulate in haematopus (as in this picture), which I believe is not the case for purpureofusca.
There is a difference in color too: haematopus is typically dark red vinaceous, and purpureofusca has purple tones. The color variation in both may cause the caps of mushrooms of the two species to sometimes look the same. I don't know this, but wouldn't be surprised if it's so.
A big difference is also in that purpureofusca has marginate gills; their edges are distinctly purple. I just read that there is a form of haematopus with marginate gills, but that's not typical and I haven't seen it.
Also, purpureofusca is typically found on the ground, while haematopus grows on rotten wood.
A more difficult problem is distinguishing purpureofusca from rubromarginata. The purple-marginate group of Mycena apparently needs further research.
Hope this helps.
Judy: Thanks for the info. I was commenting in hopes of getting more specific info on them as I was having trouble telling them apart in Arora. I'll copy and paste your comments into my book.
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