biology

Lepiota clypeolaria

Lepiota clypeolaria is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lepiota clypeolaria rather than just read about it. In short: Lepiota clypeolaria, commonly known as the shield dapperling or the shaggy-stalked Lepiota, is a common species of mushroom in the genus Lepiota. The fruit bodies have a brownish cap, a shaggy stipe with a collapsed, sheathing ring or ring zone, and spindle-shaped spores.

Key takeaways

Lepiota clypeolaria belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lepiota clypeolaria to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lepiota clypeolaria from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Lepiota clypeolaria, commonly known as the shield dapperling or the shaggy-stalked Lepiota, is a common species of mushroom in the genus Lepiota. The fruit bodies have a brownish cap, a shaggy stipe with a collapsed, sheathing ring or ring zone, and spindle-shaped spores. It is widely distributed in northern temperate zones, where it grows in deciduous and coniferous forests.

Taxonomy The species was first described in 1789 as Agaricus clypeolarius by French mycologist Jean Baptiste Francois Bulliard. Paul Kummer transferred it to Lepiota in 1871. It is commonly known as the "shaggy-stalked Lepiota". L. clypeolaria is probably the best known of the section Fusisporae within genus Lepiota, whose members are characterized by long spindle-shaped spores and a fluffy stem beneath the ring.

Description

The cap is egg-shaped when young, soon broadly bell-shaped and has pale straw- or orange-brown scales on a pale background. The central umbo is covered with a well-delimited uniform disk of the same colour as the scales. It grows to a diameter of 4–7 cm (1.6–2.8 in). The gills are white, crowded, free from attachment to the stipe. The white stem has an indistinct ring, below which it is coarsely woolly, giving an appearance which is sometimes described as "booted". The stipe, which measures 5–12 cm (2.0–4.7 in) long by 0.3–1 cm (0.12–0.39 in) thick, is hollow and slender, expanding slightly at the base into a club shape. The flesh is white and has an unpleasant smell. The spore print is white. The spores are fuse-shaped (fusiform), meaning that they are tapered at both ends. They have dimensions of 12–16 by 5–6 μm. Cystidia on the gill edge (cheilocystidia) are club-shaped to cylindrical, and measure 20–40 by 5–15 μm.

Similar species

Lepiota ochraceosulfurescens may be distinguished as having a less defined dark area in the cap centre, a smell of rubber or melted butter, and yellow flesh in the stipe base, but Species Fungorum and Funga Nordica regard this name as a synonym. Lepiota magnispora is similar in appearance but has brighter colours with a more intensely coloured cap center and longer spores.

Habitat and distribution The fruit bodies grow singly or in small groups on the ground in deciduous and coniferous forests. A common species, it is widespread in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and has been reported from Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. Fruiting occurs in autumn. In China, it is known from the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Yunnan.

Toxicity L. clypeolaria is considered poisonous, but more importantly, it resembles some of the more deadly species of its genus.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lepiota clypeolaria

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lepiota clypeolaria claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lepiota clypeolaria before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lepiota clypeolaria ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lepiota clypeolaria

In research: Lepiota clypeolaria appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lepiota clypeolaria in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lepiota clypeolaria is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Fungi described in 1789, Fungi of Asia, Fungi of Europe, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lepiota clypeolaria outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lepiota clypeolaria in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lepiota clypeolaria means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lepiota clypeolaria out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lepiota clypeolaria in simple terms?

Why does Lepiota clypeolaria matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lepiota clypeolaria?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lepiota clypeolaria.