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Species Information
Summary: Pholiota aurivella group is recognized by a yellow to orange, viscid cap with large spot-like darker scales, a scaly stem, and a brown spore deposit. Of the P. aurivella group, 90% in PNW are P. limonella and most of the rest P. aurivella, while P. adiposa is rare in North America. Other species mentioned in Scates(2) are P. filamentosa and P. hiemalis. Closely related species in Smith(3) include P. abietis, P. aurivelloides, P. connata, P. filamentosa, P. flammans (brilliant yellow cap, gills and stem), and P. hiemalis. To complicate matters, Pholiota aurivella (Batsch: Fr.) Kummer non sensu Batsch and Pholiota adiposa sensu Fr. are both given by Breitenbach(4) as synonyms of Pholiota cerifera (Karst.) Karst., and they give P. adiposa (Batsch: Fr.) Kummer sensu auct. non Fr. as a synonym of Pholiota jahnii Tjall. & Bas. Trudell(4) says that Pholiota adiposa is another name for Pholiota aurivella (Batsch: Fr.) P. Kummer and that some mycologists feel it is preferable. The online Species Fungorum, accessed April 11, 2016, lists Pholiota adiposa (Fr.) Kumm. separately but says that Pholiota adiposa sensu Holec (2001) is Pholiota aurivella (Batsch) P. Kumm. and Pholiota adiposa sensu auct. is Pholiota jahnii Tjall.-Beuk. & Bas. The description is derived from Arora(1) except where otherwise specified.
Pholiota aurivella (q.v.) is found in BC, WA, OR, ID, ON, QC, AK, CA, CO, ME, MI, NC, NM, TN, UT, Netherlands, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. P. limonella (q.v.) is found at least in BC, WA, OR, ID, AK, and NY.
Cap: 4-15cm across, "bell-shaped to convex with a broad umbo"; ocher-orange to tawny; sticky to slimy with large flattened spot-like scales that may disappear or become somewhat sticky when wet, (Phillips), 4-16cm across, bell-shaped to convex, often broadly umbonate; when young ochraceous orange to tawny, when mature more uniformly tawny; "at first covered with large appressed spot-like scales which may disappear and when wet may become more or less gelatinous, cuticle viscid or gelatinous", (Smith)
Flesh: firm; yellow, (Phillips, Smith)
Gills: adnate or notched, close; pallid to yellow becoming brown to rusty brown or even brownish orange when old
Stem: 4-15cm x 0.4-2.5cm, "equal or tapered in either direction, central or off-center"; yellow to pale yellow-brown or colored like cap (but often paler); dry and more or less smooth above veil, "scaly below (the scales usually not viscid)"
Veil: fibrillose, whitish or yellowish, forming a slight ring or fibrillose zone on upper stem or disappearing
Microscopic spores: spores size different for different members of group, (6.5-9.5 x 3.5-5.5 [6-7.5 x 4-5] microns for P. limonella, 8.5-10 x 5-6.5 [7-9.5(11) x 4.5-6] microns for P. aurivella, and 5-6 x 3-4 [5-6 x 3-4] microns for P. adiposa), elliptic, smooth, with germ pore, chrysocystidia often present on gills, (Arora, spore measurements in square brackets from Smith(3))
Spore deposit: brown
Habitat / Range
gregarious (often tufted or clustered) "on living or dead hardwoods and conifers"
Similar Species
Pholiota connata has a yellow cap, a thin viscid layer over the stem below the veil line, growth in connate fascicles, and spores 7-9 x 3.5-4.5 microns, (Smith). Pholiota filamentosa has a yellowish stem that becomes rusty brown in its lower part and has a flanged base and thick somewhat persistent fibrillose ring in at least some fruitbodies of a cluster, grows on conifer wood, and has spores measuring 6-7.5(8) x 3.8-4.2 microns, (Smith). Pholiota hiemalis has 1) large flat gelatinous scales on a cap that finally disintegrate into dark brown discolorations that are not scale-like, 2) pallid young gills with bright yellow edges, 3) gelatinous as well as dry patches and scales on stem, 4) conifer log habitat, and 5) spores 7-9(10) x 4-4.5 microns, (Smith). P. aurivelloides, found at least in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico, has broader spores (8-11(1.5) x 6-7(8) microns) than P. aurivella, and different pleurocystidia. See also SIMILAR section of Pholiota flammans, Pholiota limonella, and Pholiota squarrosoides.
