Summary:
Subgenus Telamonia Section not yet determined. Features include 1) inconspicuously hygrophanous cap that is dark to light gray-brown, turning brown when mature, 2) cap margin whitish from veil remnants, 3) beige to white flesh that bruises purplish brown slightly, 4) sinuate clay brown gills without bluish tinges, 5) white universal veil partially covering lower stem which is white to light brown beneath the veil, the stem sometimes bruising purplish brown, 6) slightly spicy odor, 7) growth under conifers in spring soon after snow melt, and 8) microscopic characters. The description is derived from Bojantchev(6).
The type is from CA, where it is one of the less common spring fruiting Cortinarius species. There is a collection with a matching DNA sequence in GenBank from Vancouver Island in BC. Morphological correlation is desirable.
Cap:
3-7cm across, convex to flat-convex, "often with a broad flattened umbo", "margin involute then straight to flanging"; inconspicuously hygrophanous, dark to light gray-brown, turning brown when mature, the extreme margin whitish due to veil remnants [the species is later differentiated from others by "the more bluish-gray cap"]; fibrillose, smooth to shiny
Flesh:
beige to white, bruising purplish brown slightly; stem often hollow when mature
Gills:
sinuate, 0.6-2cm broad, "moderately crowded to subdistant", subgills "abundant in series of 3-7"; clay brown without bluish tinges, "turning rusty brown as the spores mature"; "edges slightly uneven, pale"
Stem:
3-8cm x 1.5-3cm, cylindric to subclavate [somewhat club-shaped]; white to light brown beneath white veil remnants, bruising purplish brown, rarely with bluish tinges near top when young
Veil:
cortina white; universal veil white, partially covering stem in lower part, "leaving an evanescent annular zone"
Odor:
"slightly spicy, or moldy if surrounded by wet soil"
Microscopic spores:
spores (6.8)7.2-9.0(9.3) x (3.8)4.0-5.0(5.3) microns, amygdaliform [almond-shaped] to cylindro-amygdaliform, "finely verrucose, non-dextrinoid"; basidia 4-spored (occasionally 2-spored), 28-38 x 6-9 microns, cylindro-clavate, with clamp connection; cystidia not seen, gill edge sparsely fertile; clamp connections "common on all septa"
Spore deposit:
rusty brown
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