autumna's Favorites

I found these specimens growing in a second year burn in an old logging slash pile that was burned in a forest fire. There is a lot of charred wood, ash and charcoal like a giant fire pit with moss covering the majority of the soil surface. Soil temperature was around 48 degrees Fahrenheit. The caps are moderately indented, radially fibrillose with an incurved margin and measured from 0.5cm to 1cm with a slight smell that I cannot describe. The gills are white, decurrent and wavy with what looks like 3 lamellulae. The stem is hollow with whitish tissue (pith), measures from 1cm up to 3cm long and 0.2cm thick. Growing solitary, but gregarious. Elevation is approximately 800ft in an old growth mix conifer and deciduous forest that was burned in late summer 2020. I found this growing along with Geopyxis vulcanalis. Attempting to collect spores to do some microscopy and will update if successful.

I found the most impressive H. maculata! This almost looked like a porcelain sculpture in the forest.
This impressive specimen was:
Height: 230mm
Cap width: 60mm
Stipe width: 70 mm
Stipe at apex: 25mm

The cap was a spotted brown color and the abhymenium was a fuzzy grey color. The stipe was white and grey where exposed, and all white where it was buried under the duff and soil. You can see the 3-4 inch white section at the base.
This ascomycete features an 8 spore asci with little oil droplets beside the spores. The paraphyses have clavate tips. The spores are widely elliptical with one large oil droplet in them.