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

Coltricia cinnamomea (Pers.) Murrill
fairy stool
Hymenochaetaceae

Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.

Introduction to the Macrofungi

© Michael Beug  Email the photographer   (Photo ID #89756)

E-Flora BC Static Map
Distribution of Coltricia cinnamomea
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Species Information

Summary:
Features include a thin silky-shiny cinnamon to amber-brown cap that stains black with KOH, rusty brown flesh, a brown pore surface, and a reddish brown to dark brown stem.

Coltricia cinnamomea has been found in BC, OR, ON, PQ, AL, AZ, CA, CO, CT, GA, IA, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MO, MS, MT, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, VT, WI, and WV, (Gilbertson). It has been reported from WA by Andrew Parker, pers. comm.
Cap:
with cap and stem, cap rarely above 3-4cm wide (in tropics up to 12cm), up to 0.5cm thick, circular, flat to funnel-shaped, margin "lobed, incised to entire, often fused with adjacent fruitbodies", sharp and mostly deflexed [downcurved] when dry; brown to deep reddish brown; finely velvety, "shiny to glossy with numerous distinct to indistinct concentric zones", (Gilbertson), 1-5cm, more or less circular, centrally depressed or umbilicate, margin often fringed or torn; "bright cinnamon to reddish-brown, yellow-brown, rusty-brown, or darker"; dry, "with shiny or silky striations and narrow or inconspicuous concentric zones", (Arora), annual (Phillips)
Flesh:
up to 0.1cm thick, fibrous; rusty to reddish brown, (Gilbertson), 0.1cm thick or less, pliant when fresh; rusty-brown, (Arora)
Pores:
2-4 per mm, angular and thin-walled; reddish brown; tube layer up to 0.2cm thick, more or less colored as pore surface, (Gilbertson), 2-3 per mm, yellow-brown to brown or reddish-brown; tube layer 0.05-0.3cm thick, typically not decurrent, (Arora)
Stem:
up to 3-4cm long, 0.2-0.6cm wide, round in cross-section to flattened, mostly widening towards base; ochraceous rusty to deep reddish brown; finely velvety, (Gilbertson), 1-5cm x 0.1-0.4cm, usually central and more or less equal, tough; brown to reddish-brown; hairy or velvety, (Arora)
Chemical Reactions:
cap surface stains black with KOH (Arora), flesh black with KOH (Lincoff)
Microscopic:
spores 6-10 x 4.5-7 microns, oblong to broadly elliptic, smooth, weakly dextrinoid, golden yellow, thin-walled to distinctly thick-walled, cyanophilous; basidia 2-spored to 4-spored, 18-30 x 5-7 microns, clavate; setae or cystidia or other sterile elements absent; hyphal system monomitic: generative hyphae 2-5 microns wide in hymenium, (in cap and stem up to 10 microns in diameter and there sometimes very thick-walled), with simple septa, first thin-walled and colorless, "later more thick-walled and golden to light rusty brown, septation frequent in hymenium and subhymenium, more scattered in the context where the hyphae are longer and straighter and not branched to the same degree as in the hymenium, branching at right or wide angles", (Gilbertson), 6-10 x 4.5-7 microns, elliptic, smooth, (Arora)
Spore Deposit:
yellowish-brown (Arora)

Habitat / Range

annual, on the ground usually in deciduous forests, apparently not a wood-rotter, (Gilbertson), "solitary or in small groups on ground or moss in woods, often along well-beaten paths, roadbanks, and in clearings (rarely on rotten wood)", (Arora)

Synonyms and Alternate Names

Cantharellus cibarius "Fr. var. roseocanus Redhead, Norvell, &"
Polyporus cinnamomeus Pers.
Polyporus parvulus Klotzsch
Polyporus splendens Peck
Polyporus subsericeus Peck

Taxonomic and Nomenclatural Links

Additional Range and Status Information Links

Edibility

too tough (Arora), unknown (Phillips)

Additional Photo Sources

Related Databases

Species References

Gilbertson(1), Arora(1)*, Phillips(1)*, Lincoff(1), Ginns(28)*

References for the fungi

General References