The present key is an attempt to provide
a tool for identifying North European Mycenas. Species occuring in Northern Europe but not yet found in Norway usually are not included in the key. They are, however, presented on the site with descriptions, photos and micro drawings. To identify a
Mycena a good microscope is inevitable. In this tentative
key, however, I have tried to use mostly macroscopic characters.
In only a few instances I have been forced to refer to microscopic
features when no reliable macroscopic feature could be found.
The main goal with this site initially was
to show photos of all Norwegian Mycenas, and to give an
overwiew of the status of each species. Because of positive
response from many countries I decided to write descriptions
of all the species and to provide microscopic drawings.
I also decided to widen the scope to include all species recorded in Northern Europe. This work is now in process. In many cases the key will
probably not be sufficient, and further literature (e. g.
Maas Geesteranus 1992) is highly recommended. In addition I recommend Aronsen & Læssøe: The genus Mycena s.l. in The Fungi of Northern Europe, vol. 5 (2016).
In addition to the descriptions of the species
the visitor will also find identification
keys to each section. The production of these keys is
still in progress.
What is
a Mycena?
The genus Mycena has been studied
by many mycologists during the years, e.g. the
Danish mycologist J. E. Lange, the French mycologist
R. Kühner, A. H. Smith in the USA, and the Dutch
mycologist R. A. Maas Geesteranus. The most
recent account is the work by Giovanni Robich
from Italy. The work by Dr. Maas Geesteranus
inspired and motivated professionals as well
as amateurs to study Mycenas, and the recent
years quite a few new species have been described,
many of which have never been illustrated. On
this site some of these species are shown for
the first time.
The site is treating the genus Mycena s.l., including the two genera Atheniella and Phloeomana.
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Mycena look alikes:
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