Summary:
Features include 1) small size, 2) circular or semicircular shape with no stem or off-center to lateral stem, 3) lack of odor, 4) distant, broad, whitish gills that turn pinkish from spores, 5) growth on rotten wood, 6) pinkish spore deposit, and 7) spores that are angular in end view and longitudinally ridged in side view.

Cap:
0.5-2cm across, convex then expanded orbicular or slightly reniform [kidney-shaped], less commonly lobed or shell-shaped, margin incurved for a long time; pure white or tinged slightly grayish in outer part, soon tinged cream when old; villose tomentose then silky tomentose to silky smooth, margin not striate, (Watling), 0.2-1.5cm across, circularly or semi-circularly lobed, (Moser), up to 1.5cm across, margin thin; white; fibrillose-silky to smooth, (Courtecuisse), 0.2-1.5(2)cm across, somewhat circular to lingulate to semicircular, margin inrolled for a long time; white; finely appressed-tomentose, (Breitenbach)

Flesh:
thin, white (Watling), membranous; white, (Breitenbach)

Gills:
radiating from excentric [off-center] point, usually rather crowded; white then pale dirty cream or grayish with pinkish hue, finally buff-pink; with minutely floccose edge, (Watling), more or less distant, broad; pale, (Moser), white then pale pinkish (Courtecuisse), 5-10 reaching margin, 1-5 subgills between neighboring gills, broad; white when young, becoming ocher-pink; edges finely fringed, (Breitenbach)

Stem:
usually absent, excentric [off-center] or lateral when present and then 0.5-2cm x 0.05-0.1cm; white; pubescent tomentose, (Watling), up to 0.2cm, or completely absent, (Moser), absent or up to 0.1cm long; white; powdered, (Breitenbach)

Odor:
strong, mealy [farinaceous], (Watling), none (Courtecuisse, Breitenbach)

Taste:
strong, mealy [farinaceous], (Watling), mild (Breitenbach)

Microscopic spores:
spores 6.5-9(10) x 4-5.5 microns, elliptic almond-shaped with 7-12 longitudinal ridges in side-view, angular with several distinct faces when viewed end-on; basidia 4-spored, 24-30 x 7-8 microns, clavate, colorless; pleurocystidia absent, cheilocystidia absent or replaced by filamentous hyphae 1.5-2 micron wide; clamp connections absent, (Watling), spores 6.5-9.5 x 4-5.5 microns, with 6 or 8 longitudinal grooves, (Moser), spores 6.6-8.5 x 4.3-5.3 microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless, longitudinally striate, 6-angled to 10-angled in end view; basidia 4-spored, 16-20 x 5.5-7 microns, cylindric-clavate, without basal clamp connection; cystidia not seen; pileipellis of +/- periclinal to irregular hyphae 2-4 microns wide, occasional hyphal ends exserted, (Breitenbach)

Spore deposit:
pinkish (Watling), dingy pink (Breitenbach)

Notes:
Clitopilus hobsonii was reported from BC by P. Kroeger (see Redhead(5)). Breitenbach(4) give a distribution that includes Europe (including Switzerland) and North Africa. D. Largent (pers. comm.) says that fruitbodies resembling C. hobsonii are quite abundant in northern California, and that according to T. Baroni, there is a complex of species around Clitopilus hobsonii, all of which are characterized by a the small, white, pleurotoid form, but cannot presently be separated by anatomical or morphological characteristics, (D. Largent, pers. comm.) .

EDIBILITY

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Clitopilus pleurotelloides (Kuehner) Joss.