Summary:
Phaeocollybia redheadii is a member of the Phaeocollybia kauffmanii complex as described by Norvell(9) with the following characters 1) large size and robust stature, 2) fleshy, lubricous to glutinous, conic-campanulate caps with ochraceous, tawny, brown or drab colors, 3) thick, firmly stuffed, cartilaginous stems that are never hollow, 4) vertical-monopodial pseudorhizae, 5) amber, verruculose to verrucose, lemon-shaped spores, and 6) thin-walled, generally clavate cheilocystidia (see Phaeocollybia kauffmanii for further details). P. redheadii is differentiated from others in the P. kauffmanii complex most simply by large spore size (which can occasionally overlap with P. benzokauffmanii and P. luteosquamulosa, see SIMILAR). The (sub)capitate, sometimes catenulate cheilocystidia (with intermixed broadly clavate elements) are notable. Clamp connections are absent apart from rare ones in the stem cuticle. The description is derived from Norvell(2) unless otherwise specified. Phaeocollybia redheadii is not common.

Cap:
(2.3)4.5-14cm across, conic-convex when young with downcurved margin, expanding to broadly bell-shaped with broad low umbo, downcurved margin, extreme edge inrolled at all times; pristine fruiting bodies either warm orange-brown overall or zonate with deep orange-brown to dark blackish brown disc, dark yellowish brown or brownish orange margin, and dark brown edges, older fruiting bodies becoming blackish or purplish brown overall, moldy or frost-exposed fruiting bodies frequently developing dull purplish or greenish brown tones, damaged areas generally blackish, dried cap with blackened umbo and metallic, dark bronze margin, or shiny, deep mahogany overall; bald, smooth, viscid to heavily glutinous, margin non-striate

Flesh:
up to 1.2(1.5)cm thick at disc, firm, confluent in cap and stem; in cap when young pale yellow cream or pinkish white, when old and/or water-soaked dark yellow brown, staining orange or deep orange-brown when cut, when wet often developing a 0.1-0.3cm wide darkened zone adjacent to gills, in stem cream or pinkish white in young specimens, light to dark yellowish brown when old

Gills:
free or attached by a small tooth, crowded, gills + subgills 15-24 per centimeter at edge, 8-14 per centimeter at midpoint, subgills in (3)5-7 irregular tiers and distributed in wedge-shaped patterns, gills broad when mature, up to 1.5cm broad, ventricose, occasionally forking; pinkish white or yellow cream when very young, maturing to brownish gray-yellow or yellow-brown, and when old dark yellow-brown to deep brown-yellow

Stem:
4-10cm long above ground, combined with pseudorhiza up to 34cm long, 1-2.3cm wide at top, occasionally equal or narrowing downward, usually ventricose and widening to 1.2-3cm wide just above ground level, central to slightly off-center, round in cross-section to slightly compressed, stuffed, 0.2-0.4cm thick cartilaginous rind surrounding firm flesh, flesh frequently proliferating so as to split cortex lengthwise, unbranched pseudorhiza vertical-monopodial, generally 2/3 to 5/6 of overall stem length, gradually tapering to blunt fleshy origin, origin arising from a nodulus surrounding buried rootlets; at top pale to medium pinkish buff when young, grayish orange-brown or yellow-brown when old or damaged, darkening in lower part to deep orange-brown, staining deep red-brown, pseudorhiza deep red-brown to rusty brown overall or with pink-orange origin; stem moist, smooth or appressed-fibrillose under hand lens, longitudinally lined, (Norvell(2)), combined length including pseudorhiza sometimes exceeding 34cm; stem "moist to dry, matte and minutely lined lengthwise, smooth or appressed fibrillose (hand lens)", pseudorhiza continuous with stem, (Norvell(11))

Veil:
occasionally evident as fibrillose patches on part of stem above ground, (Norvell(2)), inconspicuous, when present as scattered fibrils or sparse fibrillose patches on stem apex, (Norvell(11))

Odor:
strongly farinaceous, often slightly floral when cut or crushed

Taste:
strongly farinaceous (cucumber-like), glutinous cap cuticle slightly to extremely bitter

Microscopic spores:
spores 10.5 x 6 +/- 0.4 x 0.3 microns, overall 8.5-12 x 5-7 microns, elongate-elliptic in face view, elongated inequilaterally almond-shaped in side view, round to almost angular in end view, verrucose everywhere except on the 1 micron long mammiform beaked apex and eccentric prominent apiculus, orange to medium amber in KOH, paler in water, dextrinoid in Melzer''s reagent; basidia (2)4-spored, 29-50 x (6)7-8(10) microns, moderately to narrowly clavate with pedicel tapering to the 1.5-3 micron wide basal septum, colorless; pleurocystidia absent; cheilocystidia abundant, emanating from the gill trama to form a dense, highly gelatinous layer, lengths up to 35 microns, "broadly clavate elements intermixed with subcapitate elements" with 6-10(15) microns wide spherical head atop (2)3-4 microns wide pedicels of variable length, "sometimes catenulate with swelling also noted near apices of the penultimate elements", thin-walled, highly gelatinized, colorless, "often developing long filamentous apical outgrowths in very old or stored fresh specimens"; cap cuticle a 2-layered ixocutis with a 200-600 microns thick suprapellis of branching, cylindric, narrow (2-6 microns wide), thin-walled, colorless hyphae, "this layer loosely embedded in a clear gelatinous matrix" and overlying a 75-200 microns thick, yellow-orange to dull orange-brown subpellis of unbranched, thick-walled, 5-8 microns wide, inflated (to 14 microns) hyphae "with refractive septa and encrusting, intraparietal and diffuse pigments", oleiferous hyphae present throughout cap cuticle; tibiiform diverticula abundant on mycelia and primordial/pseudorhizal pelli and frequent on pellicular sheath remnants on stem apex, up to 25 x 1(1.5) microns, colorless to pale straw, highly refractive, aseptate, with or without a (sub)globose head and/or apical droplet; clamp connections sporadic and rare in stem cuticle, absent in all other tissues, (Norvell(2)), spores (8)9-10.7(13) x (4.9)5.3-(6.5)7.3 microns, average 10.5 x 6 microns, tilted beak 1 micron long; hyphae of suprapellis long, highly gelatinized; clamp connections sporadic and rare in stem cuticle and pseudorhizal pellis, absent in all other tissues, (Norvell(11))

Spore deposit:
cinnamon brown ("cinnamon" Ridgway(1) color)

Notes:
It is known from about 40 localities in BC, WA, OR, and CA, (Norvell(11)).

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