Description:
mushroom; fungicolous fungus
Fruiting Body: cap 1-2 cm; stalk central, 2-3 cm long x 3-10 mm diameter. Spore Print Color: basidiospores white; chlamydospores tan brown. Spores: basidiospores 3-6 x 2-4 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, inamyloid in Melzer's reagent; chlamydospores 13-20 x 10-20 µm, with light brown thick walls and spines, inamyloid.

Diagnostic macroscopic feature: small white mushrooms growing on caps of Russula or Lactarius which are sometimes too degenerated to identify, covered in tan-brown powdery asexual spores

Diagnostic microscopic feature: chlamydospores produced from cap surface have spines, which were the inspiration for the name Asterophora

Nutritional Mode: parasitic

Substrate: on mushrooms, particularly Russula and Lactarius

Habitat: woods

Fruiting Season: summer, fall