Summary:
Section Renidentes (used to be in Subgenus Telamonia but not closely related). Cortinarius renidens is said to be the correct name for Gymnopilus terrestris Hesler: it was placed by Hesler in Gymnopilus because it lacks a cortina, however it has numerous Cortinarius characters including a characteristic pigment pattern (Moser(6)). See also Hesler''s description under Gymnopilus terrestris. Cortinarius renidens is characterized by a glossy cap and vivid yellow brown colors. Other features include a hygrophanous cap and flesh, adnate gills, and a hygrophanous silky striate stem that is equal or slightly club-shaped.

Cap:
2.5-5(6)cm across, bell-shaped - convex, then expanded, obtuse or obtusely umbonate, margin incurved at first; hygrophanous, "Rood's brown" to "amber-brown" when moist, fading to "orange-cinnamon" to "orange-buff" when dry, the disc fading quickly; bald, somewhat shining, margin "with or without silky remnants of the yellowish, evanescent cortina", (Kauffman(3)), 1.5-6cm across, (hemi)spheric (-conic), soon flat-convex, sometimes with small acute umbo, margin thin and often irregular; hygrophanous, "orange-brown to darker red-brown, when dry brownish yellow"; bald, glossy, slightly translucent-striate, (Brandrud), 2-6(8)cm across, orange-brown, when dry bright apricot, margin often broken, (Moser(1)), 2.5-6cm across, with blunt umbo; deep orange-tan, drying yellow to yellow-orange; margin frequently with yellow remnants of veil, elsewhere bald and shining, (Stuntz)

Flesh:
hygrophanous, colored as surface, at length pallid, (Kauffman(3)), dark red-brown in cap, yellow-brown in stem, darker toward base, (Brandrud)

Gills:
"adnate, seceding, close", 0.5-0.7cm broad; at first pallid, at length "cinnamon-tawny", (Kauffman(3)), (moderately) crowded; "pale yellow-brown; edge yellowish", (Brandrud), bright rust-ocher, (Moser(1)), broad, pallid when young, (Stuntz), notched and broadly attached, 36-55 reaching stem, broad, 3 subgills between neighboring gills; light ocher becoming cinnamon brown, edges white in places; edges smooth, (Breitenbach)

Stem:
4-8cm x 0.5-0.8cm, equal or slightly enlarged in lower part, solid, soon hollowed by larvae; at first "ochraceous-buff" or yellowish-tinged, at length pallid; "innately silky-fibrillose and shining", (Kauffman(3)), 2-7cm x 0.4-0.6cm, equal, base somewhat pointed fusoid, fragile; "brownish yellow, somewhat darker yellow-brown towards base"; "finely whitish yellow fibrillose and hygrophanous striate", (Brandrud), 3-5(7)cm x 1-1.5cm, club-shaped - bulbous, with base to 2.5cm wide; ocher-brown, darker brown with longitudinal fibers, (Moser(1)), 4-8cm x 0.5-0.8cm, equal or widening slightly toward base, hollow; bright yellow fading pallid; appressed-silky-fibrillose and shining, (Stuntz)

Veil:
cap margin "with or without silky remnants of the yellowish, evanescent cortina", (Kauffman(3)), absent or very thin, fugacious (fleeting) veil threads can apparently sometimes be observed (Brandrud)

Odor:
mild (Kauffman(3)), indistinct to slightly radish-like (Brandrud)

Taste:
mild (Kauffman(3))

Microscopic spores:
spores 6-7 x 4-5 microns, oval, minutely rough, (Kauffman(3)), spores 6-7 x 4.5-5.5 microns, nearly round to broadly elliptic, slightly verrucose; gill edge with narrowly cylindric to clavate sterile cells, (Brandrud), spores 6-7 x 4.5-5.5 microns (Moser(1)), spores 6-8.3 x 4.9-6.2 microns, broadly elliptic, weakly to moderately verrucose; basidia 4-spored, 26-35 x 7.5-8.5 microns, narrowly clavate to cylindric, with basal clamp connection; no pleurocystidia, marginal cells 22-38 x 7.5-8.5 microns, basidiole-like, clavate; cap cuticle of periclinal hyphae 4-11 microns wide, colorless to yellow and strongly encrusted, most septa with clamp connections, (Breitenbach)

Spore deposit:
[presumably a shade of brown]

Notes:
Cortinarius renidens has found been at least in WA, OR, and Europe, (Kauffman(3)). There are collections from WA, OR, WY, and Austria at the University of Washington. There are collections from BC and ID at the University of British Columbia (as Cortinarius renidens and Gymnopilus terrestris), and collections from BC deposited at the Pacific Forestry Centre. Harrower(1) assigned a BC collection sequence 34 to Cortinarius renidens.

EDIBILITY

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Gymnopilus terrestris Hesler