M. filopes	M. oregonensis

M. griseopallida	M. pura

M. leiana

Mycena: white spores; cartilaginous stipe; pileus typically conic to campanulate, often convex to broadly convex; stature: typically mycenoid, often collybioid or omphalinoid.

Mycena is a large genus with numerous species which have a varied morphology. As a genus, it is nearly impossible to tell using only macroscopic features.

Field characters which can be used to identify species of Mycena are:

1. hundreds of fruiting bodies covering several square feet;

2. pileus and/or stipe viscid or glutinous

3. pure white fruiting bodies; if small, the gills are often decurrent (see below, under segregate genera)

4. brightly colored fruiting bodies

5. marginate gill edges

6. fruiting bodies with a conic to campanulate pileus when young and with white spores.

The three genera which can easily be confused with Mycena are Collybia, Marasmius, and Omphalina.

Some genera which have been segregated from Mycena and which are acceptable for Botany 360 are:

Delicatula: small white, translucent-appearing fruiting bodies; pileus margin typically with a fringe of hairs or fibrils; gills vein-like and forked; it has amyloid spores

Hemimycena: delicate, white or pale-colored species of Mycena or Omphalina.

Hydropus: fruiting bodies small; pileus with dull, gray or brown colors; stipe pruinose to finely flocculose; stipe bleeding a clear color when nicked (if the liquid is colored, it is a species of Mycena)

Mycenella: Mycena-like with a velvety, grayish-brown to brown pileus and stipe.

All four of these genera are separated from Myena by microscopic features; see Mushroom VI for a discussion of these features.