Gills: almost horizontal, adnate to subdecurrent, pale at first and then rust-brown.
Spore-print: rust-brown.
Spores: medium-sized, ovate to slightly lemon-shaped, minutely warty, honey-brown under the microscope and about 10 × 6 µm in size, (9-11 × 6-7 µm).
Facial cystidia: absent.
Marginal cystidia: hyaline, almost cylindrical or bottle-shaped with an inflated base.
General Information: This species grows from spring to early autumn in Sphagnum bogs; several other species of Galerina are also found in the same localities:—
(i) G. sphagnorum (Fries) Kühner has a convex cap, fibrillose silky and ochraceous brown stem, but it lacks the ring-zone so typical of G. paludosa. The smell is like that of meal when crushed and the gills are emarginate.
(ii) G. tibiicystis (Atkinson) Kühner has a rapidly expanding cap which becomes plano-convex or depressed at maturity; it also lacks a ring-zone, but the stem in this species is finely hairy because of the presence of numerous pin-shaped cells which can be seen only with the aid of a lens. The gills are broadly adnate.
Illustrations: G. paludosa—LH 175.
Plate 75. Fungi of marshes