Summary:
subgenus Telamonia section Brunnei (formerly classified with Leprocybe). Cortinarius gentilis is recognized by slender stature, hygrophanous, yellow-brown to red-brown cap, non-viscid, yellow to yellow-brown, rooting stem, distinct yellow veil remnants on cap and stem forming girdles on the latter, and microscopic characters including nearly round, verrucose spores. It is not uncommon (can be very common in summer in the western mountains according to Trudell(4)). This has generally been reported as Cortinarius gentilis but it is not clear which members of the spp. closely related to C. gentilis are in the Pacific Northwest.

Cap:
1.3-4.4cm across, conic - bell-shaped, conic-turbinate, conic-convex or cuspidate, expanding to convex, flat, or even depressed, "usually with a prominent, acute or obtuse umbo"; hygrophanous or not, light orange to brownish orange, light brown or reddish brown on the disc, and paler to yellowish toward the margin; moist and bald to dry, "and radially silky or slightly diffracted-scaly", margin striate to corrugated or cracked when old, at first covered with pale yellow fibrils, (Thorn); 1-5cm across, conic or bell-shaped at first, expanding somewhat when old but usually retaining an umbo; somewhat hygrophanous, tawny to ocher to orange-brown or rusty yellow, fading when old or as it dries; not viscid, (Arora)

Flesh:
concolorous or light yellow, (Thorn), thin; yellowish, (Arora)

Gills:
adnexed or sinuate, subclose or close; at first light yellow or orange to grayish or brownish orange to brownish orange or brown, (Thorn), adnexed to adnate, fairly well-spaced; ocher-yellow to cinnamon brown becoming browner when old (Arora), distant; "brownish yellow then dark reddish and sometimes with grayish to violet tints" (Trudell), "strongly to weakly emarginate", distant, "fairly thick, broad"; yellow-brown to red-brown, (Niskanen)

Stem:
5.2-14cm x 0.25-0.6cm, equal or narrowing to base, "hollow, cartilaginous or fibrous"; light yellow at first but soon predominantly brownish orange to brown; marked with irregular bands and patches of pale yellow fibrils from the veil, (Thorn), 3-10cm x 0.3-0.5(0.7)cm, more or less equal, colored as cap or more cinnamon; dry, often "with traces of the yellow veil when young", (Arora), 5-12cm x 0.3-0.8cm, cylindric, "base sometimes somewhat rooting"; "yellow to yellow brown, darker towards the base", with distinct girdles on the stem due to the yellow universal veil, (Niskanen)

Veil:
yellow universal veil leaves irregular bands and patches of fibrils on stem; pale yellow cortina soon evanescent (Thorn)

Odor:
not distinct or fungoid or radish-like (Thorn), often strong of raw potatoes (Trudell), radish-like, sometimes rubber-like (Niskanen)

Taste:
not distinct or fungoid or radish-like (Thorn)

Microscopic spores:
spores (6.6)7.1-8.4(9.9) x (4.6)5.1-6.3(7.2) microns, broadly elliptic or ovate, finely warted; basidia 4-spored, 31-44 x 7.5-10 microns, clavate; cystidia not seen, (Thorn), spores 7-9 x 5.5-7 microns, elliptic, minutely roughened, (Arora), no pleurocystidia, marginal cells 18-36 x 3.5-6 microns, cylindric, (Breitenbach), spores 7.5-9 x 5.5-7 microns, (Hansen, L.), spores 7.5-9 x 5.5-6.5(7) microns (Moser), 7.5-9.5 x 6-7.5 microns, nearly round to somewhat elongated, "weakly, densely, sharply verrucose", "weakly dextrinoid, in KOH brown", thin-walled; basidia 4-spored, 34-50 x 8-11 microns; gill edge quite fertile, marginal cells 18-28 x 5-12 microns, clavate; clamp connections present, (Niskanen)

Spore deposit:
rusty brown (Arora)

Notes:
It has been found in BC (collection from BC by S. Gamiet deposited at Pacific Forestry Centre), and WA (J. Ammirati, pers. comm., WA collection used in Niskanen(12) study). Collections were examined by Thorn(1) from ON, QC, and MI.

EDIBILITY

possibly deadly poisonous, caused damage to rat kidneys but exact toxicity not well established (Benjamin), doubtful whether it has orellanine but could be present in small quantities (Joseph Ammirati, pers. comm. 1999)