The North American Species of Pholiota

186a. Pholiota lubrica var. luteifolia var. nov.

Pileus 3-9 cm latus, late convexus, glutinosus, ad centrum aurantio-cinnamomeus, ad marginem subsulphureus; lamellae pallide sulphureae vel luteae. Vellum copiosum, subsulphureum, sporae 6-7 x 3.5-4 µ. Pleurocystidia obtusa vel late obtusa. Specimen typicum in Herb. Univ. of Mich. conservatum est; legit prope Goose Lake, Brundage Mt., McCall, Idaho, 18 Aug. 1962, Smith 66012.

Pileus 3-9 cm broad, broadly convex with an inrolled margin, becoming more broadly convex to plane, surface slimy viscid, often decorated with small patches of yellowish veil near the margin; color over disc tawny to orange-cinnamon, paler and with a sulphur tone showing in some degree. Context pallid, odor and taste not distinctive, yellow with KOH and olive with FeSO4 (blue gray in Smith 73475).

Lamellae pale yellow to bright yellow when young, close, moderately broad, dull cinnamon when mature, broadly adnate to slightly decurrent.

Stipe 4-7 cm long, 10-15 mm thick, equal, cortex lemon yellow in apex, soon rusty brown in the base, surface coated with the remains of the copious dry fibrillose yellow veil leaving an evanescent annular zone when it breaks, silky fibrillose above and yellowish.

Spores 6-7 x 3.5-4 µ smooth, apical pore very minute, shape in face view oblong to elliptic or slightly ovate, in profile obscurely inequilateral to slightly bean-shaped, dull cinnamon in KOH and slightly paler in Melzer's reagent, wall -0.25 µ thick.

Basidia 4-spored, 17-20 x 5-6 µ, narrowly clavate, ochraceous in KOH, dull orange in Melzer's (as seen on sections of hymenium). Pleurocystidia abundant, 46-70 x 10-16 µ, ovate-pedicellate, utriform or fusoid ventricose with an obtuse apex, wall thickened to 1 µ in some, mostly with amorphous rods and particles in the neck which also often contains a plug of colloidal material yellow in KOH, in Melzer's reagent content merely orange-ochraceous or merely dull ochraceous. Cheilocystidia smaller than pleurocystidia but the same shape and with much more dried mucilaginous material adhering to them, mostly ochraceous in KOH. Caulocystidia 40-60 x 9-18 µ, clavate to utriform or fusoid-ventricose, mostly hyaline, thin-walled and empty (revived in KOH).

Gill trama typical for group, a gelatinous subhymenium of narrow branched hyphae hyaline in KOH, and a central area of hyaline to yellowish thin-walled smooth hyphae with elongated cells in parallel arrangement; some ochraceous oleiferous hyphae also present. Pileus pellicle a thick layer of narrow (2-3 µ) hyaline to yellowish gelatinous hyphae with smooth (rarely roughened) walls; hypodermium of rusty brown to ochraceous nongelatinous hyphae with smooth to roughened walls. Context hyphae mostly with some "colloidal" content becoming ochraceous to orange red in Melzer's reagent. Clamp connections present.

Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: Mostly solitary to scattered along very rotten conifer logs near meadows at high elevations in late summer and fall, Colorado, Idaho and Washington.

Observations: The cystidia of this variety are more like those of P. avellaneifolia, but the same provoking situation prevails in regard to the thickness of the cystidial wall that one finds in var. lubrica, only more of the cystidia in var. luteifolia show some wall thickening. The yellow veil and yellow gills distinguish it from typical lubrica in the field. It is another of the puzzling series of variants among the species with typically white to pallid gills, and is included here as part of the documentation for this particular type of variant.

Material Examined: COLORADO, Mains 5257; IDAHO, Smith 66012 (type), 69560; WASHINGTON, Smith 47622, 48025.

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