Brittlestems, Psathyrella, are a group of about 400 Mushrooms with hollow stems and thin caps. They are found in a wide variety of habitats, including dung, post-fire locations, the dead stems of larger herbaceous plants, and in one case, Psathyrella aquatica, completely underwater, the only known instance of a Mushroom (or any other Basidiomycote Fungus) fruiting underwater. Brittlestems are not generally edible, and consuming them can have unpleasant side-effects.
In a paper published in the journal Mycokeys on 16 May 2019, Giovanni Sicoli of the Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science at the University of Calabria, Nicodemo Passalacqua and Antonio De Giuseppe of the Museum of Natural History of Calabria and Botanical Garden, also at the University of Calabria, and Anna Maria Palermo and Giuseppe Pellegrino, again of the Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Science at the University of Calabria, describe a new species of Brittlestem from the Botanical Garden at the University of Calabria.
The new species is named Psathyrella cladii-marisci, in reference to the Swamp Sawgrass, Cladium mariscus, the plant upon which it was found growing on cut culms (stems). This Fungus produces Mushrooms up to 3.5 cm in diameter, conical to convex when young, maturing to hemispherical or flat, and hazelnut in colour.
A tuft of Cladium mariscus planted in a tank at the Botanical Garden of the University of Calabria, southern Italy (A), and first-sight features of Psathyrella cladii-marisci basidiomes at the base and in-between of remnants of excised culms of the plant (B). Sicoli et al. (2019).
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