The North American Species of Pholiota

149. Pholiota fulvozonata sp. nov.

Illustrations: Text figs. 328-329; 331.

Pileus 1-2 cm crassus, conicus demum late conicus vel convexus, saepe-umbonatus, viscidus, fulvo-squamulosus, ad centrum pallide fulvus, ad marginem pallidus. Contextus pallidus, cartilagineus, cum FeSO4 viridis; sapor mitis. Lamellae pallidae, confertae adnatae. Stipes 1-2 cm longus, 3-4 mm crassus, deorsum attenuatus, pallidus, conspicue fulvozonatus. Sporae 6-7 x 4-4.5 µ. Pleurocystidia 33-46 x 9-16 µ conspicua, fusoide ventricosa. Specimen typicum legit prope Upper Priest Lake, Boundary County, Idaho, Oct. 3, 1966. Smith 73887 (Mich).

Pileus 1-2 cm broad, conic expanding to broadly conic or conic campanulate, surface tawny on disc and pallid on margin, viscid pellicle tough and separable, surface covered with superficial dark russet squamules representing the remains of the outer veil, slowly glabrescent. Context pallid, pliant, odor and taste not distinctive, with FeSO4 quickly green.

Lamellae pallid becoming dull cinnamon, crowded, broadly adnate, edges even and pallid.

Stipe 1-2 cm long, 3-4 mm thick, narrowed downward, solid, ground color pallid but so densely covered by concentric zones of dark russet veil material as to almost obscure the ground color except at apex.

Spores 6-7.5 x 4-4.5 µ, with a minute apical pore; shape in face view ovate to elliptic, in profile elliptic to obscurely inequilateral; color in KOH cinnamon brown, paler and brighter rusty brown in Melzer's reagent, wall about 0.25 µ thick.

Basidia 4-spored, 18-24 x 5-7 µ, clavate, hyaline to pale yellow in KOH. Pleurocystidia abundant, 33-46 x 9-16 µ, fusoid-ventricose to utriform (apex rounded in some), thin-walled, yellowish in KOH, content "colloidal" but merely yellowish in Melzer's reagent, hyaline when fresh, smooth. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia. Caulocystidia scattered near stipe apex, similar to pleurocystidia or larger.

Gill trama of a central area of parallel hyaline hyphae (in KOH) with elongated cells, walls of hyphae smooth and thin; subhymenium of gelatinous hyphae 2-3 µ diam. in a rather interwoven arrangement. Pileus cutis a tangled mass of loosely arranged narrow (2-3 µ) hyaline to yellowish hyphae imbedded in slime, at the surface the hyphae more appressed, more highly ochraceous and somewhat incrusted; hypodermium of bright orange-brown (in KOH) interwoven hyphae, walls rough or smooth, conspicuously ornamented where intergrading with the cutis. Context hyphae yellow to hyaline in KOH, closely interwoven. Veil hyphae with brown to ochraceous walls in KOH, often encrusted, many hyphae consisting of chains of short to subglobose cells—but not sphaerocyst-like. Clamp connections present.

Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: Gregarious on burned (partially) chip dirt. Upper Priest Lake, Boundary County, Idaho. Oct. 3, 1966. Smith 73887, type.

Observations: This species is closely related to P. carbonaria Smith but differs in the veil being russet instead of red, and the pileus darker in color. One collection by Kauffman, Lake Quinault, Washington, Nov. 4, 1925, probably belongs here. He identified it as P. terrestris. As dried the fruit bodies have the stature of P. carbonaria Smith i.e., stipe 2-5 cm long and 2-2.5 mm thick. The pilei are pale tan on the disc and pale yellow on the margin, and a few show minute patches of fulvous veil material. The gills are broad, close, adnate and yellowish as dried. The stipe is yellowish above and dingy pale tan below but clearly shows the fulvous particles or patches that are the remnants of the veil. The spores are cinnamon in KOH, 6-7.5 x 4-4.5 µ and oval in face view, with a very minute pore. The pleurocystidia are 55-75 x 9-15 µ, and vary from utriform (with rounded, broad apex), to merely obtuse or subcapitate, tapered to a blunt point at the tip of the swollen portion. The pellicle is of the slimy type, thick and with hyphae widely dispersed in a gelatinous matrix. It was found on soil at the base of a stump. In the type, the specimens were from chip dirt partly burned. On Kauffman's collection there is no charred material. Hence the species is keyed both ways in this work.

CA Mushrooms