A small collybioid mushroom that grows in dense clusters on rotting conifer stumps, logs and buried conifer wood. Fresh caps are reddish brown and fade to pinkish buff or brownish, often looking two-toned, while the slender hollow stem stays reddish to purplish brown for longer. It is the only species in the genus Connopus, which was split off from Gymnopus on DNA evidence.
Saprobic, in dense clusters on decaying conifer stumps and logs, and sometimes on buried conifer wood. Summer and fall; fall to mid-winter in California and in winter in Texas.
Distribution
Fairly widespread in North America but apparently rare or absent in the Southwest and Southeast (MushroomExpert); regularly collected in coastal northern California and the Sierra Nevada. Also reported from Europe.
Characteristics
Cap: 1-5 cm, convex becoming plano-convex, smooth, slightly sticky to moist when fresh; reddish brown, fading to brownish or pinkish buff, the margin staying incurved. Gills: broadly to narrowly attached, close to crowded, whitish becoming pinkish. Stem: 2-12 cm long, up to about 6 mm thick, equal, dry, hollow, smooth apart from whitish fuzz at the base; reddish brown to purplish brown. Flesh: thin, whitish. Odor: not distinctive. Taste: mild or bitter. Spore print: white. Spores: 5.5-7 x 2.5-3 µm, smooth, elliptical to nearly cylindrical, inamyloid.
