Habitat and Range
Rhodocollybia butyracea is slightly larger, has a greasier cap when moist which is often broadly umbonate when old, its gills are more apt to be finely scalloped, a club-shaped stem base tends to be present, and spores are slightly buffy or pinkish buff, the last being the most reliable macroscopic characteristic. Microscopically at least some of the spores are dextrinoid. |Gymnopus acervatus is somewhat similar but is clustered. |Marasmiellus confluens is somewhat similar but has pubescence on the stem. |Marasmiellus peronatus has a peppery taste and the stem base is often covered with yellow hairs. |Marasmius oreades is somewhat similar but grows under trees and has crowded gills. |Rhodocybe nitellina has a farinaceous odor. |The G. dryophilus complex as discussed by Vilgalys in 1991 includes 1) G. dryophilus with ochre to ochre-chestnut cap, white gills, white rhizomorphs, variable substrate, 5-7 microns long spores, filamentous cheilocystidia, 2) G. ocior (Pers.) Antonin & Noordel. with fading chestnut cap, yellow or white gills, pinkish ochre rhizomorphs, variable substrate, 5-7 microns long spores, inflated cheilocystidia, 3) Collybia brunneola with fading chestnut cap, white gills, white rhizomorphs, variable substrate, 5-7 microns long spores, inflated cheilocystidia, 4) G. alpinus (Vilgalys & O.K. Miller) Antonin & Noordel. var. alpina with unfading chestnut cap, white gills, variable rhizomorph color, variable substrate, 7-10 microns long spores, and filamentous cheilocystidia, 5) G. subsulphureus (Peck) Murrill with light yellow cap, yellow gills, pinkish ochre rhizomorphs, preference for soil substrate, 5-7 microns long spores, and filamentous cheilocystidia, 6) G. aquosa (Bull.: Fr.) Antonin & Noordel. with light yellow cap, white gills, pinkish-ochre rhizomorphs, preference for soil substrate, 5-7 microns long spores, inflated cheilocystidia, and 7) G. earleae Murrill with variably colored cap, yellow or white gills, dark tawny rhizomorphs, preference for soil substrate, 5-7 microns long spores, inflated cheilocystidia, (Vilgalys(3) who discusses these concepts with their Collybia names and has subsulphurea as a subspecies of C. alpina). |J.W. Lennox deposited 4 collections of G. subsulphureus from WA at the University of Washington. O. Ceska deposited 3 collections of G. subsulphureus, 3 collections of G. earleae, and 1 collection of G. ocior, all from BC, at the University of British Columbia. Apart from G. dryophilus and these 3, the other members of the complex listed here not definitely documented for the Pacific Northwest. |See also SIMILAR section of Gymnopus erythropus.scattered to gregarious or sometimes cespitose [in tufts] on humus or well-decayed wood in conifer-hardwood forests, from June through September, (Halling), scattered to gregarious or in small tufts "in woods or near trees, often forming arcs or rings", (Arora), May to November (Lincoff(2)), spring, summer, fall, (Buczacki)