Summary:
This probably represents a complex of species, recognized by a broad, frequently umbonate, brown to ocher-tan cap, whitish to cinnamon or ocher gills, a tall, straight stem colored as the cap or paler, and deep creamy yellow spores (most Melanoleuca spores are white to cream). Kibby comments, "This may be one of a complex of very closely related forms since there are discrepancies in the literature regarding cap color and spore color, some being described as darker, others lighter".

Cap:
(5)7-13cm across, broadly convex to flat, usually with broad umbo, sometimes becoming slightly depressed; brown to ocher-brown, fading to pale tan when old; smooth, dry or slightly viscid, (Arora), ocher-brown to gray-brown, fading when old; smooth, shiny, dry or slightly sticky, (Phillips), warm tawny ocher to coffee-color, (Courtecuisse), from yellow ocher to chestnut brown, fading to buff, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), orange to red-brown, fading to pale tan or pale golden brown; smooth, somewhat viscid, (Trudell)

Flesh:
whitish (Arora), soft, solid in cap, stringy in stem; buff to light orange, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Gills:
attached (usually notched), crowded; pallid becoming tan, creamy ocher, deep ocher, or pale pinkish cinnamon, (Arora), sinuate, crowded, becoming broad; whitish to ochraceous cream to tan or pinkish cinnamon, (Phillips), adnexed and sinuate to decurrent, broad; pale ocherish to orange; serrate, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), deep ocher (Trudell)

Stem:
6-12cm x 1-2cm, equal or widened at base, straight; "colored more or less like cap or paler, the base sometimes brownish-stained"; "longitudinally lined or twisted-striate", (Arora); tall and slim, approximately 1cm at top when club-shaped, about 3cm when equal; a shade of brown, orangy to smoky; base has some white mycelium on it, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Veil:
absent

Odor:
slightly sweet, rancid, or according to Smith peculiar, (Arora), flowery (Phillips), slightly fruity, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen), floury-rancid (Kibby), "mild or sometimes sweetish with unpleasant undertones", (Trudell)

Taste:
sweetish (Phillips)

Microscopic spores:
spores 7-10 x 4.5-6 microns, elliptic, finely warted, amyloid, (Arora); cystidia abundant on gills, (Phillips); no clamp connections (Breitenbach)

Spore deposit:
creamy or yellowish (Arora), ochraceous cream (Phillips), deep creamy yellow (Kibby), creamy to buff to yellow ocher, (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)

Notes:
Schalkwijk-Barendsen lists it for the Pacific Northwest and AB. It is widely distributed in CO and the Southwest, (Phillips). There are collections from WA, ID, AK, CA, CO, and WY at the University of Washington. There are collections from BC and AB at the University of British Columbia.

EDIBILITY

edible (Arora)