Pluteus romellii
(*Group)
Syll. fung. 11: 44. 1895.
Common Name: none
Synonyms: Pluteus lutescens (Fr.) Bres.; Pluteus nanus subsp. lutescens (Fr.) Konrad & Maubl.; Pluteus splendidus A. Pearson.
Cap 30-75 mm broad, obtuse-conic becoming convex to plano-convex, with or without a low umbo; margin decurved to level at maturity, obscurely striate; surface moist, finely wrinkled, (use hand lens) dark brown to dark olive brown at disc, paler towards margin; context relatively thin, up to 5 mm thick near disc, watery dull yellow; taste mild; odor not distinctive.
Gills free, close, cream-colored, becoming pale yellow, developing pinkish tones in age, relatively broad, up to 7 mm in width; edges fringed (use hand lens); lamellulae in two to three series
Stipe 20-50 x 5-10 mm in width, round, with a pith-like core, equal to slightly enlarged below; surface finely striate, cream-colored, becoming pale yellow to yellow; partial veil absent.
Spores 5.5-7.5 x 5.0-7.0 microns, subglobose to ovoid, smooth, hilar appendage not conspicuous, inamyloid; spores pinkish in deposit; pileipellis composed of globose to pyriform cells.
Found in ones and twos on well-rotted logs, branches, and debris of hardwoods such as oaks (Quercus spp., and Tanbark oak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus), occasionally with conifers; known from coastal forests and likely present in the Sierra Nevada; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter; fairly common.
Unknown; probably edible, but too infrequent and unsubstantial to have culinary value.
Pluteus romellii is recognized by a dark brown, sometimes olive brown, wrinkled central cap that shades to yellowish brown or olivaceous brown at the margin; gills that are cream-colored to pale yellow, and a cream to pale yellow striate stipe also help to define the species. Pluteus leoninus, formerly known as P. flavofuligineus, is a look-alike with a yellowish brown cap, but can be distinguished by a velvet-like, not wrinkled, cap surface and taller aspect. An important microscopic difference is the structure of the pileipellis. The pileipellis of P. leoninus is composed of fusiform shaped cells, while in Pluteus romellii, globose to pyriform cells.
*Recent molecular work (see Ševčíková et al.) has shown that Pluteus romellii is restricted to Europe. There are two species in the Pluteus romellii clade in California: Pluteus fulvibadius and Pluteus vellingae. Without further research/data it is not possible to determine which species are shown here.
"Pluteus vellingae is quite similar in morphology, and its geographical range overlaps with that of P.
fulvibadius. Pluteus vellingae has generally smaller basidiomata, the lamellae are usually
white or very pale yellow before sporulation and the basidiospores are slightly smaller, but molecular data might be necessary to confidently
identify collections of both taxa." (Ševčíková et al.)
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 959 p.
Bas, C., Kyper, T.W., Noordeloos, M.E. & Vellinga, E.C. (1990). Flora Agaricina Neerlandica—Critical monographs on the families of agarics and boleti occuring in the Netherlands. Volume 2. Pleurotaceae, Pluteaceae, Tricholomataceae. A. A. Balkema: Rotterdam, Netherlands. 137 p.
Knudsen, H. & Vesterholt, J. ed. (2008). Funga Nordica: Agaricoid, boletoid and cyphelloid genera. Nordsvamp: Copenhagen, Denmark. 965 p.
Knudsen, H. & Vesterholt, J. ed. (2012). Funga Nordica: Agaricoid, boletoid, clavarioid, cyphelloid and gastroid genera. Vol. 1. Nordsvamp: Copenhagen, Denmark. 511 p.
Minnis, A.M. & Sundberg, W.J. (2010). Pluteus section Celluloderma in the U.S.A. North American Fungi 5(1): 1-107.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Ševčíková, H., Malysheva, E., Ferisin, G., Dovana, F., Horak, E., Kalichman, J., Kaygusuz, O., Lebeuf, R., González, G.M., Minnis, A.M., Russell, S.D., Sochor, M., Dima, B. & Antonín, V. (2022). Holarctic Species in the Pluteus romellii Clade. Five New Species Described and Old Names Reassessed. Journal of Fungi 8 (773): 1-39.
Takahashi H. (2001). Pluteus romellii (Agaricales, Basidiomycetes),
new to Japan, found in Odawara (in Japanese with English summary).
Nat Hist Rep Kanagawa 22: 21–23.
