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Species Information
Summary: Subgenus Telamonia Section Bovini/Furvolaesi. Features include 1) a hygrophanous yellowish brown to reddish brown cap that darkens when old, the margin narrowly pellucid-striate, 2) brown flesh without bluish tints, 3) notched, close, pale yellow-brown gills, 4) a clavate or bulbous stem that is grayish white silky-fibrillose but more brown on its lower part, the white veil forming a thin sock-like sheath, 5) usually a strong anise or if not present a slightly radish-like odor, 6) growth under conifers particularly spruce, and microscopic characters including spores with a characteristic oval shape but rather variable in size and shape between collections.
DNA sequencing indicates its presence in BC (Harrower(1)). The holotype is from Sweden.
Cap: 3-7cm across, hemispheric, soon becoming low convex with low umbo and narrowly downcurved margin; hygrophanous, "dull yellowish brown to somewhat reddish brown, sometimes with dark streaks or spots"; "often narrowly pellucid-striate"
Flesh: reddish to yellow brown, darker towards the base
Gills: "strongly to weakly emarginate", "at first narrow then moderately broad", moderately crowded (50-60 reaching stem); "very light-coloured when young", then pale yellow-brown, when old saturated brown, the edge concolorous or white; edge uneven, (Kytovuori), medium spaced; pale yellow-brown, when old saturated brown, (Knudsen)
Stem: 5-12 x 0.4-1(1.2)cm, cylindric, "quite slender from the upper part, base clavate to bulbose" (up to 2.5cm), "softening with age", top silky grayish white, downwards brown; mycelium white, (Kytovuori), 5.0-12.0 x 0.4-1cm, "quite slender in the upper part, base clavate or bulbous"; grayish white silky-fibrillose, "downwards brown", (Knudsen)
Veil: veil white, forming a very thin, sock-like sheath, disappearing easily when bruised or when old, "sometimes forming obscure zones", (Kytovuori), "universal veil white, forming a very thin, sock-like sheath, disappearing easily when bruised or with age, sometimes forming obscure zones", (Knudsen)
Odor: in gills "usually with a distinct smell of anise", "sometimes missing and then slightly raphanoid", (Kytovuori)
Microscopic spores: spores 7.5-9.1 x 5.2-6.1 microns from cortina, oval, "weakly to clearly thick-walled, moderately to strongly dextrinoid, moderately verrucose, the size, and also the shape, rather variable between different collections", "spores measured from the gills slightly narrower"; basidia 4-spored, 30-35 x 6-10 microns, "with fairly dark olivaceous contents"; gill edge "with fairly frequent clavate to bulbose sterile cells" (11-33 x 6.5-14 microns); gill trama hyphae "fairly finely scabrous, in the overall view pale (olivaceous) yellowish"; cap cuticle with a moderately thin epicutis of 3-5 layers of hyphae, outer 3-5 microns wide, inner up to 10 microns wide, almost colorless "to fairly strongly umber (intracellular pigment)", "smooth to fairly strongly cross-striped incrusted, distinctly cemented by a gelatinous substance"; hypoderm "relatively well-developed", elements 25-80 x 10-25 microns, "in the upper part colourless, hyphoid to irregular, and often fairly strongly cemented by a gelatinose substance, in the lower part more regular, angular, with pale umber thick-wall pigment"; "transition to the trama with distinctly incrusted hyphae"; trama hyphae "irregular with a mixture of narrower and broader elements", 4-14 microns wide, more or less colorless; clamp connections present,(Kytovuori), spores 7.5-9 x 5-6 microns, oval; moderately verrucose, "moderately to strongly dextrinoid", "weakly to clearly thick-walled"; gill trama "fairly finely scabrous", (Knudsen)
Habitat / Range
in loose groups or single, "in submesic spruce forests, often on calcareous ground, but also in ordinary blueberry spruce forests, often in deep moss cover"; it "has predominantly been found in older forests, but it also grows in fairly young stands"; fruiting from early August to late September, (Kytovuori(1) for northern Europe), in mesic conifer forests with Picea (spruce), often on calcareous soil, but also in ordinary Vaccinium myrtillus Picea forests; late summer to fall, (Knudsen(1) for northern Europe)
Similar Species
Cortinarius neofurvolaeus lacks the distinct odor of anise but can have a slight radish-like odor - see details of that species. |Cortinarius sordidemaculatus is usually more robust, lacks an aniseed smell, lacks a pellucid-striate cap margin, has a thicker veil, and has narrower, thinner-walled and less dextrinoid spores, (Kytovuori(1)). |Cortinarius clarobrunneus lacks the pellucid-striate cap margin, and has a thicker, not sock-like veil, and nearly round, more verrucose and only slightly dextrinoid spores (7.3-8.2 × 5.2-6.5 microns), (Kytovuori(1)). |C. illuminus has a pellucid-striate cap margin, but it differs from C. anisatus by a more saturated red cap colour, radish-like odor, and small, round spores, (Kytovuori(1)).
