Gymnopus acervatus, also known as the Clustered Toughshank, is a medium-sized agaric that has a reddish-brown cap, pale cream to whitish gills, and a tough, reddish-brown stem. The fruitbodies occur in dense clusters on decaying conifer wood, especially spruce and fir. A saprobic species, it plays an important role in decomposing forest litter and woody debris.

Cap convex with an incurved margin when young, later broadly convex to plane, smooth and slightly viscid when fresh. It is reddish-brown to vinaceous-brown, hygrophanous, fading when dry to buff or pinkish-buff. Gills narrowly attached to the stem, sometimes appearing free, close and relatively broad, cream-buff to pale vinaceous-buff, often with shorter gills interspersed. Stem slender, cartilaginous and hollow, reddish-brown to purplish-brown, paler near the apex and covered with whitish hairs at the base. The stems are often fused together in dense clusters. No ring is present. Spore print white.

Microscopic Features: Spores are 5.5–7 x 2.5–3 µm, smooth, elliptical to nearly cylindric, inamyloid.

Synonyms: Collybia acervata and Gymnopus acervatus are older names for this species.

Connopus acervatus on the mykoweb.com web site.
Connopus acervatus on the MushroomExpert.Com web site.