Cortinarius anisatus
no common name
Cortinariaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Cortinariaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
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.
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)
Notes:
DNA sequencing indicates its presence in BC (Harrower(1)). The holotype is from Sweden.
EDIBILITY
Habitat and Range
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)).Habitat
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)