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Species Information
Summary: subgenus Phlegmacium. Features of C. cupreorufus include viscid cap that is variable in color but usually reddish brown with greenish margin, whitish flesh with greenish tinges, greenish gills, whitish stem with green tones and a reddish tinged marginate base with flesh that does not turn red with Lugol''s iodine or Melzer''s reagent. What we call here Cortinarius cupreorufus has been known as Cortinarius orichalceus, which is apparently a misapplied name, not identical with Agaricus orichalceus. |Smith(12) describes C. orichalceus var. olympianus from WA which he says "is the C. orichalceus of Kauffman, and is distinct from the typical variety of the species in lacking a characteristic odor and in apparently having slightly smaller spores. Bresadola described the spores as 10-13 x 6-7 microns and the flesh as having the odor of anise." |Smith(12) also describes from WA Cortinarius orichalceus forma luteifolius of var. olympiana, differing from var. olympiana f. typica in lacking the faint lilac tint in the top of the stem, in the cap surface not becoming dark vinaceous red but instead merely dull cinnamon brown when fresh, and in the brighter yellow gills. |Smith(12) further describes C. orichalceus var. xanthocephalus from WA, with bright orange-brown cap with clear full yellow margin, and spores 8-10 x 6-7 microns. |In Liimatainen(2), what we are assigning here as Cortinarius cupreorufus is very close phylogenetically to C. pseudocupreorufus (based on C. orichalceus var. olympianus), and it may be that some or all collections referred here in North America belong to C. pseudocupreorufus. |Liimatainen(2) note that spores of C. cupreorufus are 10-11.5 x 6.5-7.5 microns and amygdaloid-citriform, while those of C. pseudocupreorufus are 9-11 x 5-6.5, narrower and somewhat amygdaloid. |Liimatainen(2) renamed the form luteicolor of C. orichalceus var. olympianus as Cortinarius luteicolor.
Kauffman gives Cortinarius orichalceus for WA, OR, ID. What we call Cortinarius cupreorufus or Cortinarius orichalceus is fairly common in WA, especially in the Olympic Mountains (Stuntz(5) (as C. orichalceus)). It is reported from western AB by Kernaghan(1) (as C. orichalceus) who mention its occurrence in Europe including United Kingdom, Greater Yellowstone area, and NS. A sequence in the BC study of Harrower(1) was assigned to Cortinarius cupreorufus.
Gills: at first adnate, then slightly sinuate, crowded, moderately broad, subventricose [somewhat broader in the middle]; at first "dark-olive-buff" then darker, "Isabella-color", (Kauffman), "yellow, greenish, old olive", (Moser), when young yellow or bright olive green (Stuntz), emarginate, crowded, broad; greenish yellow then rusty olive; with wavy edge, (Lincoff), "at first yellow green, quickly turning blue after collection", (Kernaghan)
Stem: 5-6(8)cm x 2-2.5cm, stout, rigid, solid and compact inside; "equal above the marginate, subdepressed, oblique bulb"; whitish; "at first covered by the obscure, slightly colored remnants of the universal veil", (Kauffman), yellow-greenish, greenish (Moser), pale olive green or pale yellow, without any bluish or purplish colors even in young specimens, (Stuntz), 4-8cm x 1.5-2cm, greenish yellow, ending at base with reddish-tinged marginate bulb; fibrillose, (Lincoff), "white with green tones and a reddening marginate base", (Kernaghan)
Veil: stem "at first covered by the obscure, slightly colored remnants of the universal veil", (Kauffman), cobwebby, greenish-yellow, (Lincoff), cortina white (Kernaghan)
Odor: none (Kauffman), none (Lincoff), none (Smith(22) who mentions that the Cortinarius orichalceus Fr. he is talking about is the one with no odor and white flesh, not the one described by Henry with anise odor and greenish yellow flesh)
Microscopic spores: spores 10-12(13) x 6-6.5(7), almond-shaped, tuberculate, dark rusty brown under the microscope, (Kauffman), spores 9-11 x 5-6.5 microns, somewhat almond-shaped, rusty brown in KOH, with a distinctly wrinkled exospore; basidia 4-spored, colorless or with a faint purplish tinge in KOH; hymenium filled with basidia-like bodies having a fuscous-purplish opaque amorphous content, cheilocystidia not differentiated, (Smith(12) for var. olympiana), spores 12-13 x 6-7 microns (Moser), spores 11-13 x 6.5-7 microns, elliptic, warty, rust brown, (Lincoff), spores 9.7-11.6 x 5.5-7.0(7.4) microns, amygdaliform [almond-shaped] to citriniform [lemon-shaped] (Kernaghan)
Spore deposit: [close to rust brown]
Habitat / Range
under conifers, in high mountains, 2400 to 3000 meters, (Kauffman), in conifer woods in mountains, late summer and fall, (Lincoff), coniferous and mixed woods, deciduous woods, on chalk, (Moser)
Similar Species
Cortinarius scaurus and Cortinarius herpeticus have stem base that turn red with Lugol''s iodine or Melzer''s reagent. Cortinarius prasinus Fr. sensu Konrad & Maubl. has according to Moser(1) the entire fruit body +/- grass to leek green, with cap center brown or brown-spotted or brown-fibered and shorter spores at 10-12 x 6-7 microns. Smith(22) differentiates the dried specimens of Cortinarius orichalceus Fr. which are dark purplish red in all parts including basal mycelium from the dried specimens of C. prasinus Fr. which are "clove brown" on the disc, "citrine-drab" on the margin (both Ridgway(1) colors), and have white mycelium.
Kauffman(3) (as C. orichalceus) (colors in quotation marks from Ridgway(1)), Moser(1) (as C. orichalceus), Stuntz(5) (as C. orichalceus), Lincoff(1)* (as C. orichalceus), Courtecuisse(1)* (as C. orichalceus), McKnight(1)* (as C. orichalceus), Kernaghan(1) (as C. orichalceus), Smith(12) (as C. orichalceus), Liimatainen(2), Smith(22) (as C. orichalceus), Harrower(1) References for the fungi
