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Species Information
Summary: Subgenus Phlegmacium. Features include 1) a yellow to yellow-brown, glutinous cap, often with reddish brown discolorations, 2) white flesh (slowly bruising brownish) with a watery, grayish blue cast above the gills and sometimes a strong bluish cast in the upper stem, 3) notched, crowded gills that are pale yellow to off-white when young, 4) a white stem (occasionally blue-tinged in the upper part) with an abrupt bulb, 5) habitat under oak, and 6) microscopic characters.
There are collections from CA and one collection from BC, (Bojantchev(1)).
Cap: 6-10cm across, hemispheric to convex to flat-convex to uplifted when old, margin "persistently involute"; predominantly in yellow shades, starting pale straw-yellow to sulphur yellow becoming yellow-brown, darker near center, often with reddish brown discolorations; glutinous when wet, bald to dull glossy when dry, when old "developing cracks and areolations near the disk, remaining smoother near the margin"
Flesh: mostly white, slowly bruising brownish, a few fruitbodies featuring strong bluish cast in upper stem flesh, more pronounced near surface, a watery grayish blue cast above gills present in almost all fruitbodies, "rather faint in dry conditions, but persisting deep into maturity"
Gills: notched, crowded, 80-120 reaching stem, 0.8-1.5cm broad, subgills abundant, with widely varying extensions, series of 3-5; gills pale sulphur yellow to off-white when young, "turning various shades of yellow-brown to brown" as spores mature; edges "even to occasionally slightly wavy", often eroded when old
Stem: 5-10cm x 1.5-3cm, cylindric to subclavate above the abruptly emarginated bulb which is always well developed, bulb 3-5cm wide at widest point, tapering below; stem mostly white, "but occasionally with light bluish tinges in the upper part"; the underground part of the bulb "with a white cottony mycelial felt"
Veil: universal veil white, often leaving floccose patches on cap surface, "occasionally forming volva-like extensions on the bulb margin" in recently expanded fruitbodies; cortina "white to pale yellow, turning rusty brown" from spores, "copious, persistent, leaving an annular zone of dense fibrils" on stem and often "forming a hairy appendiculate zone" on the cap margin, the cortina deposits forming "a distinct brownish belt on the bulb edge, which can be fused into a gelatinized matrix on the periphery"
Odor: "mild, leafy, and earthy"
Taste: "mild, earthy"
Microscopic spores: spores (9.5)10-12(13) x (5)5.5-7(7.5) microns, amygdaliform [almond-shaped] to citriform [lemon-shaped], "distinctly and coarsely verrucose", "slightly dextrinoid"; basidia 4-spored, 30-40 x 7-10 microns, cylindroclavate, with clamp connections; cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia - none observed; clamp connections common in all parts
Spore deposit: deep rusty brown
Habitat / Range
single to gregarious under oaks
Similar Species
Cortinarius fulmineus shares the same general colors, tends to oxidize red-brown on the cap, particularly the disk, has a strong alkaline reaction which is purple-red on the cap surface and pinkish on the flesh, and has smaller spores (8-10 microns), (Bojantchev). Cortinarius elegantior var. americanus is associated with conifers, has a strong red alkaline reaction on the cap and bulb, and has much larger spores, (Bojantchev).
