rubrique 11: Presence of a cortina


The cortina is a transparent veil composed of very fine threads, much like a spider's web, linking the margin of the cap to the stem, in certain varities of mushrooms. When the mushroom grows, this veil breaks, and the threads disappear or stick to the stem (or sometimes to the cap margin). The feature is mostly visible on young specimens, before the cap opens and flattens, it is far less visible on mature mushrooms. On more mature specimens, check for the presence of local spore deposits. Spores indeed tend to stick to and accumulate on the cortina remains of the stem.

Examples:
           
We can clearly see the threads of the cortina on this young specimen (remember the cobweb analogy), select then "yes" in this case     We can't see any cortina thread on this young specimen, select then "no" in this case     We can spot the remains of cortina threads on the stem of this mature specimen, we should then select "yes" in this case, but this character could very well remain undetected. The spore deposits on the cortina remains on the stem make it however somewhat more visible.     We can see thread remains of cortina on the cap margin of this mature specimen, although nothing of the sort is visible on the stem ... we could then select "yes" in this case. But here again, this could well remain undetected. Remember to check the young specimens

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