Marasmius androsaceus
Approximately 5 species in Santa Cruz County.
Marasmius Records from Santa Cruz County:
Marasmius produce small, veil-less white-spored mushrooms that are often somewhat leathery, wiry, cartilaginous or otherwise tough-textured. Although most are drab, some are very beautifully colored and distinctive-looking. All are litter decayers, inhabiting somewhat lignin-rich debris (leaves, needles, twigs) but also soil and humus.
Many species are known from California, and due to the work of Dennis Desjardin and others, are fairly well characterized. However some likely remain undescribed.
Important identification characters include stature, coloration, substrate, and sometimes microscopic features of spores, cystidia, and pileipellis. Most of the common species can be identified macroscopically.