Summary:
Gomphidius maculatus is identified in the field by 1) the light cinnamon to reddish brown, glutinous cap that turns black when old or becomes spotted black in patches where handled, 2) its complete lack of a veil, and 3) the distinctive dark-ochraceous to purplish black lower stem, the stem being moist to dry, white at the top and usually not yellow at the bottom. It is most frequently associated with larch. (Miller(4)). The size is quite variable including specimens that are very small and delicate (var. gracilis of some authors). There are differences in the descriptions below in how often the stem base is yellow and in the reddening of gills and flesh. Miller(4) notes "in the Pacific Northwest it is frequently found and large collections of a dozen or more caps are not uncommon".

Cap:
(1)3-11cm across, broadly convex to flat or irregularly depressed; light cinnamon to reddish brown, light pinkish cinnamon; with glutinous pellicle (cap skin), fine pallid fibrils on some young caps, (Miller(4)), 3-8cm across, "fleshy-brown, also tending to pink, spotting black", (Moser), 3-5cm across, "fleshy, convex then open, fairly depressed, almost invariably obtuse with no umbo", margin involute [inrolled]; often with black spots; somewhat viscid, (Lincoff), pale cinnamon to reddish brown to murky brown or blackish-spotted, (Arora)

Flesh:
firm, but appearing water-soaked in buttons; white, "with a vinaceous hue in some caps" in a narrow ( 0.1-0.2cm) zone beneath the cap skin, (Miller(4)), flesh reddening, (Moser), flesh turns black without turning red first (Lincoff)

Gills:
short-decurrent to decurrent, "subdistant to distant, forked to intervenose near margin, thick"; white to pallid, smoky gray to gray when old, (Miller(4)), gills wine red where pressed, then spotting rust brown, finally blackening, (Moser), decurrent, distant, ventricose, detachable; "whitish then gray, finally blackish", (Lincoff), distant, pale gray, reddening (except var. gracilis) then blackish, (Courtecuisse)

Stem:
1-8cm x 0.3-3.5cm, narrowing slightly toward base; upper third white, sometimes with small dark squamules [fine scales], lower two thirds covered with dark ochraceous to purplish black fibrils, "base usually unchanged but occasionally faintly yellow-brown, lemon-yellow, or a very distinct bright yellow", (Miller(4)), "brown-red-spotted-punctate base yellow discoloring wine reddish", (Moser), 6-7cm x 0.8-1cm, "white, speckled with small blackish or pale purple spots or fibrils, yellow at base"; not viscid, (Lincoff), whitish above ring zone, crimson brown fibrils and speckles beneath and viscid at first, base yellow, then blackening, finally entirely black like the flesh, (Courtecuisse)

Veil:
absent (Miller(4), Lincoff), viscid veil soon disappearing, (Moser)

Odor:
mild (Miller(14))

Taste:
mild (Miller(14))

Microscopic spores:
spores 14-22 x 6-8 microns, elliptic in face view, subfusiform [somewhat spindle-shaped] in side view, smooth, gray-brown in KOH, ochraceous in Melzer''s reagent; basidia 4-spored, 48-65 x 8-12.5 microns, clavate, colorless but with dark granules in KOH, in Melzer''s reagent colorless and colorless to yellow in crushed mounts; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia 95-170 x 15-30 microns, "fusiform, subcylindric to fusoid-ventricose, thin-walled", colorless and occasionally with yellow-brown incrustations as seen in both KOH and Melzer''s reagent; caulocystidia 60-113 x 8-12 microns, in fascicles at apex of stem, fusiform to subcylindric, thin-walled occasionally thick-walled (up to 3.0 microns), colorless or light yellow just at apex with dingy yellow incrustations in KOH; clamp connections rare but present on the hyphae of the carpophore, (Miller(4)), spores 18-23 x 6-9 microns, (Moser), spores 20-30 x 7-9 microns, smooth, fusiform, (Lincoff)

Spore deposit:
smoke gray to nearly black, (Miller(4)), olive-black (Lincoff)

Notes:
Gomphidius maculatus was examined by Miller(4) from ID, AB, QC, MA, MI, NM, Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. It was reported from BC (Davidson(1) and Lowe(1)), reported from WA by Andrew Parker, pers. comm.

EDIBILITY

yes, good, (peel cap cuticle off first), (Lincoff)