Summary:
{See also Pholiota growing on Burnt Wood or Ground Table.} Features include 1) a hygrophanous, yellowish brown to cinnamon brown cap that is smooth except for remnants of the whitish to yellowish-buff (rarely red-brown) veil on the margin, 2) close, narrow to broad gills that are pallid or pale yellowish to yellowish brown, becoming cinnamon-brown, 3) a stem that is whitish to pale yellowish becoming dingy yellow brown on the top part and pallid pale yellowish then darker brown on the lower part, 4) a dry stem surface that can be silky-fibrillose or with scattered fibrils, or sometimes with small fibrillose scales that can be light brown or less often reddish brown, 5) growth on burned soil or burned wood, 6) a cinnamon brown spore deposit, and 7) microscopic characters. Matheny(13) present molecular evidence to show that two other A.H. Sm. & Hesler species, Pholiota carbonaria and Pholiota fulvozonata, are synonyms. Ammirati(11) say it is "fairly common and widely distributed and certainly occurs across Canada and throughout the United States".

Cap:
2-5cm across, "broadly convex becoming flatter and somewhat depressed, sometimes with a low umbo"; hygrophanous, yellowy orange to cinnamon reddish brown with paler margin, fading to ochraceous buff colors; smooth except for veil remnants on margin, (Phillips), 2-4(6)cm across, convex, becoming somewhat depressed, at times with low umbo; hygrophanous, fulvous or reddish-cinnamon-brown to reddish brown, the margin usually paler, colors varying "russet", "tawny", "pecan brown", "Verona brown", or when old almost "mummy brown", fading to various shades around "ochraceous-buff"; viscid, bald except for veil remnants along the margin which fall off, margin even, (Smith)

Flesh:
thin; yellow, (Phillips), rather thin; yellow to nearly colored as cap, (Smith)

Gills:
"adnexed to adnate, moderately close", 25-30 gills reaching stem, with several tiers of subgills; pale brown when young, becoming light yellowish brown to yellowish brown or brown when mature; edges "pallid but not appearing fimbriate", (Matheny), adnate, close, broad; pallid or pale yellowish becoming cinnamon brown; edges even or eroded, (Phillips), adnate or rounded adnate, close, broad; pallid to pale-yellowish when young, becoming "snuff-brown" or "cinnamon-brown"; edges even or eroded, (Smith for P. highlandensis), "bluntly adnate, narrow, crowded, equal"; "white to grayish when young, becoming nearly snuff-brown at maturity"; "edges slightly crenulate [finely scalloped]", (Smith for P. carbonaria), broadly adnate, crowded; pallid becoming dull cinnamon, edges pallid and even, (Smith for P. fulvozonata)

Stem:
1.0-4.0(6.5) x 0.1-0.4(0.5)cm, cylindric, occasionally narrowing downward, "occasionally flexuous but often straight", solid or stuffed becoming hollow; pale yellowish overall or pallid to creamy on upper part and pale brown on lower part, when old brownish yellow nearly throughout; "dry, pruinose only at the extreme apex, with scattered fibrils below or with an overall silky-fibrillose appearance", typically not scaly or with light brown, small fibrillose scales, (Matheny), |2-4cm x 0.3-0.6cm, "top portion whitish to yellowish becoming dingy brown, lower portion pallid then brownish (darker than the top), with patches of pale yellow or buff veil remnants", (Phillips), |(1)2-4cm x (0.2)0.3-0.6cm, top whitish to yellowish at first, becoming dingy brownish, lower part pallid then dark brown (darker than top), with zones or patches of pallid yellow to pale buff veil at first, (Smith for P. highlandensis), |3-6cm x 0.4-0.6cm, equal, somewhat flattened or round in cross-section, fibrous, solid becoming hollow at least near top; yellowish, but darkening slightly in lower part; covered with small, brownish to reddish-brown ("hazel" to "ferruginous") fibrillose squamules [fine scales] from veil, the scales often recurved [upcurved], top finely pruinose, (Smith for P. carbonaria), |1-2cm x 0.3-0.4cm, narrowing downward, solid; ground color "pallid but so densely covered by concentric zones of dark russet veil material as to almost obscure the ground color" except at top, (Smith for P. fulvozonata)

Veil:
"partial veil present only when young, evanescent, lacking any pigmentation", (Matheny), pallid yellow to "cinnamon-buff" (pale buff), forming an evanescent [fleeting] fibrillose ring zone, but stem more or less glabrescent [becoming bald], (Smith for P. highlandensis), veil ferruginous red [also referred to as ''fiery red or ferruginous veil, which, in age, fades to ochraceous''], veil remnants forming fine scales over lower stem, veil remnants also hanging from cap margin; veil not forming annulus, (Smith for P. carbonaria), russet-colored universal veil leaves fine scales on cap and dense concentric zones on stem except at top, (Smith for P. fulvozonata)

Odor:
"not remarkable or somewhat musty" (Matheny), not distinctive (Phillips), not distinctive (Smith for P. highlandensis, P. carbonaria, P. fulvozonata)

Taste:
"not remarkable or somewhat musty" (Matheny), slightly disagreeable or none (Phillips), mild with a slightly unpleasant aftertaste (Miller), slightly disagreeable or none, (Smith for P. highlandensis), not distinctive (Smith for P. carbonaria, P. fulvozonata)

Microscopic spores:
spores 6.0-8.0(8.5) x 4.0-4.5(5.0) microns, elliptic to oval, thick-walled (about 0.5-0.75 microns thick), yellowish brown, apices obtuse to subconic, "germ pore and apiculus small and indistinct"; basidia 4-spored, 18-22 x 6-7 microns, cylindric, clavate, or urniform, colorless; pleurocystidia "easily projecting from hymenium", 49-66 x 10-14, "fusiform, fusiform-ventricose, sublageniform, to skittle-shaped, with elongated cylindrical necks, apices obtuse or swollen, thin-walled", colorless; cheilocystidia "similar to pleurocystidia but shorter, fusiform, ventricose, or utriform"; caulocystidia 30-61 x 5-11 microns, "in tufts or clusters at the extreme apex", cylindric, subcylindric, fusiform, "occasionally flexuous or sublageniform, apices obtuse but occasionally with short rostrate extensions"; clamp connections present, (Matheny), |spores 6-8 x 4-4.5 microns, mostly elliptic but varying to ovate in face view, somewhat elliptic to obscurely inequilateral in side view, smooth, distinct pore at apex, wall about 0.3 microns thick, ''dark rusty brown (near cinnamon brown) in KOH, paler and more ochraceous in Melzer''s reagent''; basidia 4-spored, 25-32 x 7-8 microns, subcylindric to clavate, yellowish to colorless in KOH, yellowish in Melzer''s reagent, in American material often 18-24 x 5-6 microns; pleurocystidia 38-65(70) x 7-15 microns, ''fusoid-ventricose, apex obtuse, smooth, thin-walled, content often ochraceous in KOH''; cheilocystidia like pleurocystidia but smaller (30-50 x 7-12 microns) "but varying to subfusoid to nearly clavate", content yellow to colorless; caulocystidia 45-88 x 7-12(16) microns, "cylindric, clavate or fusoid-ventricose"; clamp connections present, (Smith for P. highlandensis), |spores (5)6-7(8) x 3.5-4(4.5) microns, elliptic to ovate in face view, subelliptic to obscurely inequilateral in side view, smooth, germ pore present but apex not truncate, walls about 0.3 microns thick, tawny fresh in water, cinnamon brown revived in KOH, paler cinnamon in Melzer''s reagent; basidia 4-spored, 18-23 x 6-7 microns, clavate, yellowish to colorless in KOH or Melzer''s reagent; pleurocystidia abundant, 50-88 x 9-14 microns, fusoid-ventricose with obtuse or rarely subcapitate apices, "when fresh some with adhering amorphous material around the apex, smooth in KOH", colorless or with yellowish content in the neck or throughout, "thin-walled, rarely the apex forked", cheilocystidia abundant, 25-47 x 7-13 microns, "clavate to subfusoid or obscurely fusoid-ventricose, walls ochraceous in KOH, smooth or some slightly incrusted", caulocystidia none; clamp connections present, (Smith for P. carbonaria), |spores 6-7.5 x 4-4.5 microns, ovate to elliptic in face view, elliptic to obscurely inequilateral in side view, minute apical germ pore, cinnamon brown in KOH, paler and brighter rusty brown in Melzer''s reagent, wall about 0.25 microns thick, [presumably smooth]; basidia 4-spored, 18-24 x 5-7 microns, clavate, colorless to pale yellow in KOH; pleurocystidia abundant, 33-46 x 9-16 microns, ''fusoid-ventricose to utriform (apex rounded in some), thin-walled, yellowish in KOH, content "colloidal" but merely yellowish in Melzer''s reagent'', colorless when fresh, smooth, cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia; caulocystidia scattered near stem apex, similar to pleurocystidia or larger; clamp connections present, (Smith for P. fulvozonata)

Spore deposit:
cinnamon brown (Phillips), "cinnamon-brown" (Smith)

Notes:
Matheny(13) examined collections from ID (holotype of Pholiota fulvozonata), AL, CA (holotype of Pholiota carbonaria A.H. Sm. & Hesler), MI, NY (holotype of Pholiota highlandensis), TN, and VA. Matheny(13) give a distribution that also includes Mexico, Peru, Europe, and China, and note reports from Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. Smith(3) examined collections from WA, ID, AL, CA, CO, FL, LA, MD, MI, NM, NY, TN, TX, WY, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. There are collections from BC at the Pacific Forestry Centre and the University of British Columbia. The University of Washington has collections from WA, OR, AK, MS, and Norway. Breitenbach(4) give the distribution as North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa.

EDIBILITY

poisonous - Ammirati(11) cite a case requiring a child to be hospitalized for dysentery for 10 days after consuming about 20 caps verified by A.H. Smith to be P. highlandensis

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Flammula highlandensis (Peck) Peck
Gymnopilus carbonarius (Fr.) Murrill
Pholiota carbonaria