at the base, central, slender, and hollow. The stem surface is dry, pruinose over the entire length, and does not become smooth with age. It is pale brownish at the top, and gradually becomes dark brown toward the base. The base is covered with a white mycelial hairlike growth (a tomentum) that is attached to white cord-like rhizomorphs on the substratum. The gills are fused to the stem, and distantly spaced, with between 15 and 18 gills reaching the stem. The gills are up to 2.5 mm broad, thin, grayish, and have distinct veins running between them. The gill edges are the same color as the gill faces. Microscopic characteristics The spores are roughly ellipsoid and measure 8–11 by 5–6 µm. They are smooth, colorless, inamyloid, and thin-walled. The basidia (the spore-bearing cells) are 28–35 by 7–8 µm, club-shaped, and mostly four-spored. The abundant cheilocystidia (cystidia on the gill edge) are club-shaped, measure 30–45 by 10–15 µm, and form a sterile gill edge. They have several irregularly cylindrical to knob-like apical appendages measuring 3–11 by 2–5 µm, which are colorless and thin-walled. Pleurocystidia (cystidia on the gill face) are absent in M. nidificata. The hymenophoral (hymenium-bearing) tissue is made of smooth, thin-walled hyphae that are 6–26 µm wide, cylindrical (but often inflated), and contain brownish pigment in the cytoplasm. These hyphae are dextrinoid, meaning they will turn reddish to reddish-brown in the presence of Melzer's reagent. The cap cuticle is made of parallel, bent-over hyphae that are 3–10 µm wide, cylindrical. The hyphae are smooth or covered with scattered, warty or finger-like diverticulae. Under the cap cuticle is a layer of parallel hyphae containing cytoplasmic brownish pigment. The hyphae are dextrinoid, and contain short and inflated cells that are up to 40 µm wide. The stem cuticle is made of parallel, bent-over hyphae 3–8 µm wide, which are similar in appearance to the hyphae of the cap cuticle. The caulocystidia (cystidia on the stem) are relatively sporadic; they are cylindrical, diverticulate, colorless, thin-walled, and measure 45–60 by 4–8 µm. The stem tissue is composed of longitudinally arranged, cylindrical hyphae that are 10–25 µm wide, dextrinoid, smooth, and have cytoplasmic brownish pigment. Clamp connections are present in the stem tissues, and at the septa at the bases of the basidia. Similar species Mycena granulifera, a species originally described from Brazil, is comparable to M. nidificata in having inamyloid spores, club-shaped cheilocystidia