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Spruce Sprite

Welcome back to Mushroom Monday, your weekly look at some of PEI’s easy-to-identify fungi. Today’s mushroom may be small, but that doesn’t stop it from standing out in our woodlands. Meet Spruce Sprite (Crinipellis piceae). 


Photo 1: Tiny Spruce Sprites (Crinipellis piceae) dot the forest floor on PEI.

The name Spruce Sprite fits this mushroom well: it’s not hard to imagine a troop of fairies twirling in the dark woods when you see this mushroom on the forest floor (Photo 1). With minute caps rarely more than 1.5 cm (0.5 inch) across, this could be an easy fungus to overlook. Fortunately for us, those pale caps stand out well against brown needles and green mosses, making it easy to find. 


Photo 2: Under Spruce Sprite's light caps, are dark, wiry stems.

Spruce Sprite’s caps are supported by thin, dark, wiry stems (Photo 2). Underneath are widely spaced gills, and this mushroom’s tough texture belies its small size. Dig out an individual Spruce Sprite and you’ll discover where it gets both its common and species names: it grows directly on needles of Spruce (known scientifically as Picea [Photo 3]). 


Photo 3: Carefully dig up one Spruce Sprite, and you'll see it grows directly on Spruce needles.

Only one of my multiple mushroom guides includes this species, and then only as a footnote. In the plant world, we have provincial and regional references called ‘Flora’ which include all known species; if you find something not listed in the Flora, you likely have a new provincial record which is significant. As a botanist, I initially assumed the same was true of fungi and that the suspect pool in my books was all I had to consider. How wrong I was!

 

There are so many species of fungi that even the most complete books have to do some picking and choosing. Often, larger groups (for example, the Russulas I featured here: https://www.pei-untamed.com/post/russula) will be covered by just a few representative species. Some fungi don’t yet have good descriptions that would be useful in a field guide. When book space is limited, it makes more sense to focus on species that can be reasonably described along with those that are edible or might be confused with edibles. In the end, publishing practicalities mean beautiful species like Spruce Sprite often just don’t make the cut.

 

PEI has many species of tiny forest fungi, but this is the only Crinipellis confirmed here to date. Three other species found in the Maritimes could also be on the Island, including Crinipellis setipes which looks very much like Spruce Sprite but is found under hardwoods. Crinipellis zonata and C. maxima are also found under hardwoods but have caps that can be twice as large as the other species.

 

If you enjoy a walk in the Island’s Spruce woods without wading though waist-deep piles of needles, you can thank Spruce Sprite (and other decomposers) for their waste disposal services. They may be omitted from most field guides, but I include them as important parts of PEI untamed!

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