The North American Species of Pholiota
179. Pholiota armeniaca sp. nov.
Pileus 3-9 cm latus, hemisphericus, viscidus, glaber, persicinus vel laete luteus; lamellae confertae latae, brunneolae demum olivaceo-brunneae; stipes 5-7 cm longus, 6-12 mm latus, sursum pallidus; velum pallidum; sporae 6-7.5 (8) x 3.5-4.5 µ in "KOH" lutealae; pleurocystidia 43-68 x 9-14 µ. Specimen typicum in Herb. Univ. of Mich. conservatum est; legit prope Tolland, Colorado, 17 Sept. 1920. C. H. Kauffman.
Pileus 3-9 cm hemispheric becoming nearly plane, margin undulating, glabrous, viscid, shining when dry, color "apricot-orange" on disc and "antimony-yellow" toward the margin, "zinc-orange" to tawny in age; margin with whitish particles of veil. Context white, taste slightly disagreeable, odor none.
Lamellae broadly adnate becoming subdecurrent, crowded, rather broad (5-8 mm), "pinkish-buff" young becoming "cinnamon-buff" and finally "buffy-brown" (olive-brownish).
Stipe 5-7 cm long, 6-12 mm, equal, base slightly bulbous, surface covered by the veil forming a sheath of floccose fibrils, sheath terminating in an annular zone, whitish above the sheath and silky-pruinose, apex striate from gill-lines in some.
Spores in deposit (on annulus, nearly fuscous—Kauffman), (5.5) 6-7.5 (8) x 3.5-4 (4.5) µ, smooth, apical pore minute, in face view oblong to narrowly ovate and often with a truncate base, in profile obscurely bean-shaped to nearly oblong, in KOH pale ochraceous, in Melzer's reagent nearly hyaline, wall thin (less than 0.25 µ).
Basidia 4-spored, 20-24 x 5-6.5 µ, content ochraceous in KOH, paler in Melzer's. Pleurocystidia 43-68 x 9-14 µ fusoid-ventricose, neck 7-10 µ thick and apex obtuse to rounded, wall thin, smooth and hyaline, content homogeneous or in some "colloidal" in the neck, hyaline to yellowish. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia but content in neck with rod-like hyaline particles.
Gill trama of floccose parallel hyphae hyaline to pale tan in KOH; subhymenium gelatinous. Pileus cuticle of narrow gelatinous hyphae 3-4 µ diam., walls yellow to hyaline and smooth to incrusted, hypodermial zone bright ochraceous in KOH, the hyphae floccose. Context hyphae hyaline to yellow in KOH, interwoven, walls thin and smooth. Clamp connections present. All hyphae inamyloid.
Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: On duff under spruce-fir, near Tolland, Colorado, Sept. 17, 1920, C. H. Kauffmann. 9500 ft. elevation; type.
Observations: The outstanding feature of this species is the pale ochraceous spores as revived in KOH. They are also more thin-walled than in most species of Pholiota. In stature it closely resembles P. sublubrica.
