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

Summary:
Subgenus Myxacium. Section Myxacium. Features include a smooth, viscid, tawny to orange-brown or reddish-brown cap, white to grayish white or buff gills, a viscid, white, usually equal stem, growth under conifers, especially pine, and elongate spores.

. Cortinarius mucosus is reported from WA, AZ, CA, and NM by Arora, BC by Schalkwijk-Barendsen, and CA (C. mucosus (Bull.) Ricken) by Smith(22). Seidl(1) uses a collection from OR in her studies of Section Myxacium of Subgenus Myxacium. It is also reported from AK according to Arora, and from Europe (e.g. Breitenbach(5) for Switzerland). Harrower(1) assigned a BC collection sequence 59 to Cortinarius mucosus. The sequence is close but not identical to other collections under that name. Morphological correlation is desirable.

Cap:
4-10cm across, (hemi-)spheric, then flat-convex; "sometimes slightly hygrophanous, red-brown, frequently dark red-brown to almost black at center", pale to very pale (ochraceous-)brown at margin; glutinous, (Brandrud), 4-10cm across, convex to flat or broadly umbonate, or uplifted; chestnut brown to reddish brown or bright orange-brown, often paler when old (tawny or ocher); smooth, very slimy when moist, (Arora), up to 7cm across, convex expanding to almost flat; dark chestnut to lighter yellow-brown, often with a yellow border; slimy, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Flesh:
coarsely fibrous; white, with grayish hygrophanous streaks in apex, when old age turning somewhat brownish at base, (Brandrud), whitish (Arora), off white or yellowish (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Gills:
moderately crowded; grayish white; edge serrulate or not, (Brandrud), "close, usually more or less adnexed"; whitish to grayish becoming pale ochraceous or tawny, then cinnamon-brown, (Arora), adnate, broad, with subgills; pale yellowish then gradually spore color, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Stem:
5-10cm x 1-2.5cm, equal or sometimes narrowing downward, firm; whitish, base turning faintly brownish; glutinous, veil grayish white, "usually sheath-like and basally cracking in appressed scales or girdles", (Brandrud), 4-15cm x 1-2(2.5)cm, more or less equal; white or whitish; viscid to slimy, not breaking up into conspicuous belts, universal veil whitish and slimy, disappearing or leaving indistinct remains, (Arora), up to 9cm x 1cm, equal; white, may get a brown base when old; shiny, silky, streaked after universal veil dries up, no patches, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Veil:
glutinous, grayish white, "usually sheath-like and basally cracking in appressed scales or girdles", (Brandrud), cortina usually forms a superior hairy-fibrillose zone on stem stained by spores, universal veil whitish, slimy, (Arora)

Odor:
indistinct (Brandrud), mild (Arora), mild or fragrant (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Taste:
mild (Arora)

Microscopic spores:
spores 11.5-14 x 5.5-7(7.5) microns, narrowly almond-shaped, fusiform [spindle-shaped], distinctly and coarsely verrucose, cystidia: gill edges sterile, with small clavate to cylindric sterile cells, (Brandrud), spores 11-18 x 5-7.5 microns, elongated-elliptic, rough, (Arora), spores 11-15.5 x 5.3-7.6 microns, elliptic to amygdaliform, strongly maculose-verrucose, light yellow; no pleurocystidia, marginal cells 12-41 x 7-17 microns, vesicular to clavate, (Breitenbach)

Spore deposit:
rusty brown (Arora), cinnamon brown (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)