Summary:
Subgenus Telamonia. |There is no good evidence for the presence of this species in the Pacific Northwest. Spores are different from Cortinarius subbalaustinus which does occur in the Pacific Northwest. |Features include 1) a slightly hygrophanous, vivid yellow-brown to orange-brown cap with radial streaks and a silky surface, the cap margin incurved for a long time, 2) medium spaced, yellow-brown to red-brownish gills, 3) a cylindric to slightly clavate stem (narrowing at the very bottom) that is white-fibrillose becoming more brownish, 4) a slightly radish-like odor, 5) growth in hardwood and mixed forests, and 6) microscopic characters including nearly round spores. |The description is derived from Knudsen(1) except where noted.

Cap:
3-8cm across, hemispheric to low convex, margin incurved for a long time; slightly hygrophanous, vivid yellow-brown to orange-brown, "soon drying and then with hygrophanous streaks and innate fibres"; smooth, (Knudsen), up to 10cm across, "reddish brown, with warm ochre radial streaks"; fibrillose-silky, (Courtecuisse), 5-10cm, hemispheric then convex, flattening, margin persistently inrolled; "finely silky-fibrous with radial brownish banding; dry, (Buczacki)

Flesh:
pale ochraceous yellow (Knudsen), pinkish then reddish, (Buczacki)

Gills:
medium spaced; "yellow brown to red brownish", (Knudsen), reddish ocher (Courtecuisse), adnate-emarginate, fairly distant; red-ochraceous then red-brown; edges +/- even, (Buczacki)

Stem:
5-11cm x 0.5-1.2cm, cylindric to very slightly clavate; white-fibrillose, later more brownish, (Knudsen), up to 10cm long and 1.5cm wide, "cylindric club-shaped" but pointed at very bottom; "mottled whitish then ochraceous", (Courtecuisse), 6-8cm long, "club-shaped to bulbous", pointed at base or almost rooting; dry, partial veil white-silky, (Buczacki)

Veil:
"universal veil white, sparse" (Knudsen), cortina fleeting (Courtecuisse)

Odor:
slightly radish-like (Knudsen), earthy (Courtecuisse), faint, earthy, (Buczacki)

Taste:
indistinct (Buczacki)

Microscopic spores:
spores 5.5-6.5 x 4.7-5.2 microns, subglobose [nearly round], moderately verrucose, "indextrinoid or very weakly dextrinoid"; "epicutis hyphae with dark brown granules or particles in Melzer", (Knudsen), spores 6-7 x 5-6 microns, broadly elliptic to nearly round, warty, (Buczacki)

Spore deposit:
red-brown (Buczacki)

Notes:
Harrower(1) assigned a BC collection sequence 168 to Cortinarius balaustinus but DNA matches closely with Cortinarius subbalustinus. It is also found in Europe (Knudsen(1)). D. Bojantchev identified a California collection as Cortinarius balaustinus group on Mushroom Observer and commented "almost identical species to Cortinarius balaustinus as interpreted in Tubingen and differs by a couple of base pairs in the nrITS. Interestingly, a close relative ΓÇô Cortinarius subbalaustinus ΓÇô is very common under live oak and tanoak in the low elevations of California" (Microscopic features were examined.)

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