Summary:
Features include a scaly, brown, convex cap that does not split radially when old, and a scaly, brown stem with a blue-green to olive-green base. |Grund(4) gives an account from NS of var. mucidiolens of I. calamistrata (Fr.) Gillet which is similar to var. calamistrata except for a strong green corn odor as opposed to var. calamistrata "which always smells like a mixture of fresh raw fish and pine resin", (Grund). This variety has been raised to species level as Inosperma mucidiolens. Both Inosperma calamistratum and Inosperma mucidiolens are found in Washington. |Another somewhat similar species is Inocybe maximum, also said to have a fishy to resin odor, but a reddish brown cap, more prominent reddish staining of flesh and typically a more robust stature. |The blue green color is not due to psilocybin or related methylated tryptamines, although at least four Inocybe species do contain psilocybin and baeocystin and have a greenish-grayish color to the stem, (Stijve(1)). Inosperma calamistratum is fairly common in the Pacific Northwest.

Gills:
"adnate to adnexed or free, close"; brown to dull cinnamon brown or colored like cap, edges whitish, (Arora), "adnate-seceding or becoming sinuate", close, broad; soon "army-brown", at length rusty-sprinkled; the edges white-flocculose, (Kauffman), "adnexed to adnate"; "pale buff at first, then dull orangy or with greenish-umber tints", (Phillips)

Stem:
4-10cm x 0.3-0.5cm, equal or widening downward, firm; "brown to dark brown (like cap)", the base or lower part dingy greenish blue to olive-green (both inside and out); "covered with recurved scales (like cap)" which may be obliterated or wear away when old, (Arora), 4-8cm x 0.2-0.5cm, equal or widening downwards or narrowing downwards, firm, somewhat rigid, solid; fuscous to bone-brown, paler in upper part, smoky-greenish-blue in lower part; "clothed with recurved, fibrillose scales, at length fibrillose", (Kauffman), 3.0-9.0cm x 0.2-0.8cm, "similar in color to the cap, except the base, which is suffused with a dull blue-green stain"; "fibrous to very scaly", (Phillips)

Veil:
disappearing (not forming a distinct ring on stem), (Arora)

Odor:
mixture of fresh raw fish and pine resin, (Grund), Kuyper said for Europe, "faint, acidulous, with a sweetish component, Pelargonium-like or reminding of I. bongardii var. bongardii, sometimes disagreeable, somewhat fishy". He describes the odor of I. bongardii var bongardii as "strong, sweet, reminding of flowers of Impatiens glandulifera, ethyl cinnamate, or overripe pears, but sometimes absent", (Kuyper(1), with Latin italicized), odd, a mixture of pine resin and fish or of green corn, (Phillips, who differentiates var. mucidiolens), slightly spermatic (Stangl for Bavaria), strong, unusual, sour-acidic, sometimes of Pelargonium or fish, (Buczacki, Great Britain and Ireland)

Taste:
indistinct (Kuyper)

Microscopic spores:
spores 9-13 x 4.5-6.5 microns, elliptic-oblong, smooth, (Arora), spores 10-12(13) x 5-6 microns, somewhat kidney-shaped, oblong, smooth, obtuse at both ends; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia absent, sterile cells clavate-saccate, on gill edges, (Kauffman), spores 10-12 x 5-6 microns, bean-shaped, smooth, (Phillips)

Spore deposit:
brown (Arora), snuff brown (Phillips), yellow-brown (Miller), ochraceous-brown (Buczacki)

Notes:
Kauffman(4) gives the distribution for I. calamistrata (Fr.) P. Karst. as WA, OR, New England to NC, through Canada and MI, and Europe. Nishida(2) notes it for CA. There are collections at the University of British Columbia for BC and collections at the University of Washington for WA, OR, ID, and AK. Kuyper examined collections of Inocybe calamistrata (Fr.: Fr.) Gillet from MI, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom (England, Scotland), India, and Japan.

EDIBILITY

unknown (Arora), like many Inocybes, may contain muscarine

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Inocybe calamistrata (Fr.) Gillet