The North American Species of Pholiota
16a. Pholiota curcuma var. lanatipes var. nov.
Illustrations: Text figs. 24-25.
Pileus 7-20 mm latus, late convexus, siccus, squamulosus, subcastaneus. Lamellae confertae, latae, adnatae, pallide ochraceae demum fulvae. Stipes 1.5-3 cm longus, 1-1.5 mm crassus, subannulatus, deorsum fulvus. Sporae 7-8 x 3.5-4 µ. Pleurocystidia desunt. Cheilocystidia 20-32 x 7-12 µ, clavata vel fusoide ventricosa. Specimen typicum in Herb. Univ. Mich. conservatum est; legit prope Lewiston, Mich. 3 Juli 1963, Smith 66988.
Pileus 7-20 mm broad, broadly convex with an incurved margin, expanding to plane or nearly so, surface dry and densely and minutely tufted-squamulose, dark rusty reddish brown overall, slowly becoming slightly paler. Context thin, yellowish, taste mild, with FeSO4 olive; with KOH dark russet.
Lamellae close, broad, adnate, pale dingy ochraceous, when mature dull rusty brown; edges crenulate.
Stipe 1.5-3 cm long, 1-1.5 mm thick, equal, thinly fibrillose below and at first with a delicate submembranous annulus, at times veil remnants hanging on pileus margin, becoming rusty brown below, near apex about cinnamon buff, apex silky pruinose. Veil ochraceous, submembranous to fibrillose.
Spores 7-8 x 3.5-4 µ, smooth, dull tawny to darker rusty brown in KOH, oblong to subelliptic in profile with the ventral line (in optical section) almost straight, in face view elliptic to ovate and some obscurely angular, apical pore present as a minute apical discontinuity, wall estimated at 0.25 µ thick.
Basidia 4-spored, 20-25 x 5-6 µ, hymenium yellow in KOH. Pleurocystidia 20-32 x 7-12 µ, clavate, utriform or broadly fusoid-ventricose with rounded apex, smooth, thin-walled, hyaline in KOH.
Gill trama of more or less parallel hyphae with cells in central area 8-15 µ broad, and with ochraceous smooth walls in KOH but toward subhymenium 3-6 µ wide and walls paler; subhymenium not truly differentiated as a layer. Pileus epicutis a shortened trichodermium of inflated hyphal cells 10-25 µ wide with conspicuous plates or patches of rusty cinnamon deposits (as seen both in KOH and in Melzer's reagent), the end-cell often smaller than the penultimate cells and ovate to elliptic in optical section, cell walls thin and ochraceous. Clamp connections present. All tissues inamyloid.
Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: Scattered on hardwood logs, Lewiston, Michigan, July 31, 1963, Smith 66988 (type), 66992.
Observations: This variety is distinguished primarily by the heavy veil for the size of the basidiocarps.
