E-Flora BC: Electronic Atlas of the Flora of British Columbia

Summary:
Thelephora intybacea is similar to Thelephora terrestris but 1) the cap is pallid then rufous ferruginous then fuliginous, 2) the upper (inner) surface is felted, tomentose or scaly in narrow interrupted zones, and 3) the lower (outer) spore-bearing surface is papillate and wrinkled. Microscopic characters include angular-lobate spiny spores.

Distribution includes WA, ID, ON, CT, DC, IA, MA, ME, MI, NC, NH, NY, OH, and VT, (Ginns), and Europe, South Africa, and New Zealand, (Corner). There are collections from BC at the University of British Columbia.

Fruiting body:
"As T. terrestris but the pileus (6cm radius) pallid, then rufous ferruginous, finally fuliginous, spongy-felted to floccose-tomentose, then inoderm or with slight adnate fibrillose squamules in narrow interrupted zones; hymenium papillate, rugulose; flesh firm, 1-3 mm. thick.", (Corner), clusters often 5-8cm across, often central, but more often with the caps lateral and triangular, "sometimes the mass ascends small sticks and then extends out from this support in reflexed forms"; fruitbodies whitish then rufous-ferruginous, individual cap 2-3cm long, 2-4cm broad, 0.1cm thick, stems somewhat lateral and growing into one another, caps imbricate [shingled], fibrous, usually with the fibers matted and agglutinated into appressed and wholly adnate squamules [tightly attached fine scales], margin dilated and whitish-fimbriate [whitish-fringed] at first, at length becoming entire and colored like the rest of the cap; spore-bearing surface inferior, colored as the upper surface, papillose, (Burt)

Flesh:
0.1-0.3cm thick, firm, (Corner)

Stem:
somewhat lateral and growing into one another (Burt)

Microscopic:
spores 8-12 x 6-9 microns, angular lobate, echinulate (finely spiny) with scattered subacute spines 0.5(1) microns high, yellow brown, one droplet; basidia 45-90 x 9-12 microns with 2-4 sterigmata 7-9 microns long; hyphae 2-7.5 microns wide, with clamp connections, becoming thick-walled; not cyanescent in KOH, (Corner)