Summary:
Cystodermella granulosa is recognized by its reddish brown to tawny color, the granulose cap and stem, the veil that disappears or forms a slight ring, the white spore deposit, the inamyloid spores, and the absence of cheilocystidia. Vellinga(16) explains that the Cystodermella name is due to the discovery from molecular work that Cystoderma contained two groups that are not closely related - the ones with spores that are not amyloid (except Cystoderma japonicum) are renamed in Cystodermella. There are five variations of Cystoderma granulosum documented from the Pacific Northwest (not recombined into Cystodermella): 1) var. typicum forma typicum (described below), cap 1.5-3(4)cm broad, cap cinnamon, tawny to russet or yellowish, gills typically notched, 2) var. typicum forma robustum which differs from forma typicum in attaining the size of C. cinnabarina with a 3-9cm cap and in its consistently more rusty-reddish colors than forma typicum, gills adnate to slightly adnexed, 3) var. typicum forma albidum with cap 1.5-2.5cm, differing from forma typicum in being whitish or white even when young not just fading whitish, 4) var. occidentale with cap 1-3cm and deep vinaceous brown, typically subdecurrent gills, sheath of stipe remaining more or less intact, and 5) var. adnatifolium with cap 2.5-5(8)cm, colored like C. cinnabarina, not as robust as C. cinnabarina in stature, gills adnate to slightly adnexed.

Cap:
1.5-3(4) across, oval to convex when young, broadly bell-shaped to flat, with or without obtuse umbo when old, margin at first incurved slightly; "color variable, sometimes evenly colored but often darker on the disc", cinnamon, russet to tawny, the margin paler and yellowish; dry, "granular-furfuraceous or covered with small conic granulose scales, even or radially wrinkled", margin at first appendiculate with veil remnants, (Smith(46) var. typicum forma typicum), 1.5-3.5(5)cm across, convex becoming flat, margin sharp and slightly wavy; fox-brown to orange-brown, margin paler; granulose-verruculose with the granules colored the same as background, margin bordered with fine veil remnants when young, (Breitenbach), 1-5cm across, convex; brick red to deep red-brown; granular-warty, (Phillips), to rusty-wine-colored or occasionally white (Laycock)

Flesh:
thin, equal; whitish or flushed pale rufous, in stem pallid, (Smith(46)), thin; cream, (Breitenbach), white (Phillips)

Gills:
adnexed and rounded next to the stem or adnate with a decurrent tooth [also referred to as typically notched], close, broad and at times somewhat ventricose; "white to pale yellowish or subconcolorous pallid away from the edges"; edges even, (Smith(46)), narrowly adnate and ascending, 30-42 reaching stem, 3-(7) subgills between neighboring gills, gills broad; white becoming cream; edges slightly crenate [scalloped], (Breitenbach), adnate, crowded; white, (Phillips)

Stem:
2-4(6)cm x 0.25-0.6cm, longer up to 10cm in Sphagnum, equal or slightly widened downward, stuffed to hollow; colored like the cap below the ring zone, whitish above; granulose-scaly up to the ring zone or merely furfuraceous, silky above, (Smith(46)), 2.5-5(7)cm x 0.3-0.4(0.6)cm, cylindric, solid, rigid; flesh-colored above the ring zone, flesh-colored to reddish brown below ring zone; whitish-powdered above ring zone, below ring zone +/- smooth to slightly brownish-scaly, (Breitenbach), 2-6cm x 0.3-0.6cm, colored as cap, "sheathed up to ring with mealy granular coating, smooth above ring", (Phillips)

Veil:
evanescent [fleeting], pallid, fibrillose, apical, annular [ring] zone; marginal veil remnants appendiculate from cap, (Smith(46)), "ring slight, soon vanishing", (Phillips)

Odor:
not distinctive (Smith(46)), none (Breitenbach), not distinctive (Phillips)

Taste:
mild (Smith(46)), mild, not distinctive, (Breitenbach), not distinctive (Phillips)

Microscopic spores:
spores 3.5-5 x 2.5-3 microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid; basidia 4-spored, 18-20 x 5-6 microns; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia none; gill trama colorless in KOH, "homogeneous, the hyphae more or less regularly arranged"; cap cuticle composed of chains of cells 10-50 x 10-25 microns, some spherical and up to 20 microns in diameter, some nearly spherical to ellipsoid and up to 50 x 25 microns, some more or less cylindric, with smooth brown walls revived in KOH, the filamentous hyphae beneath the inflated cells also with rusty brown walls in KOH, "the hyphae progressively paler toward the gill trama"; clamp connections present, (Smith(46)), in var. typicum var. album, microscopic characters were as in forma typicum above, with the exception that KOH reactions were not so pronounced: the subcuticular hyphae were pale cinnamon, and the few sphaerocysts found were only moderately dark cinnamon, (Smith(46)), spores 3.7-4.5 x 2.3-2.8 microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid; basidia 4-spored, 17-28 x 4.5-5.5 microns, narrowly clavate, with basal clamp connection; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia not seen; cap cuticle of nearly spherical cells, 14-40 x 10-30 microns, interspersed with occasional hyphoid elements 5-8 microns wide, some septa with clamp connections, "all elements with faint yellow-brown pigmentation", (Breitenbach); spores 3.5-5 x 2-3 microns, elliptic, smooth, nonamyloid, (Phillips)

Spore deposit:
white (Phillips)

Notes:
Smith(46) examined collections 1) of var. typicum forma typicum from WA, OR, ID, NS, ON, QC, MI, NH, NY, TN, Austria, France, Russia, and Spain, 2) of var. typicum forma robustum from WA, OR, MD, MI, QC, and recorded from ON, France, and Italy, 3) of var. typicum forma albidum from OR, NH, NY, and MI, 4) of var. occidentale from WA and OR, and 5) of var. adnatifolium from WA, OR, ID, ON, ME, MI, NY, and WY. Cystodermella granulosa is found also in BC (Bandoni(1)). Breitenbach(4) give the distribution as North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa.

EDIBILITY

no (Phillips)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cystoderma granulosum (Batsch) Fayod