Summary:
Also listed in Veined category. Features include vase shape, reddish to orange-buff scaly cap, pallid veined exterior and elongate spores. There is molecular evidence that Gomphus floccosus should be separated from Gomphus clavatus, supporting the name change. Trudell(4) say that Gomphus bonarii has been said to differ from G. floccosus "by being smaller, having block-like yellow-orange scales with red tips, and a tendency to grow in clusters. However, in practice, it is very difficult to distinguish two species, and many mycologists do not recognize G. bonarii [name italicized] as a separate species.".

Gills:
shallowly wrinkled, veined, or with low, blunt ridges; yellow to cream or ocher, (Lincoff), "broad, low ridges or wrinkles arranged longitudinally, covering almost the entire outer surface; buffy ochre to slightly vinaceous or brownish where bruised", (Phillips), fold-like and very often forked or anastomosing, on old caps occasionally almost poroid, decurrent almost to the base of the stem in an irregular manner, color not given, (Smith), cream-white to buff or yellowish (Ammirati(1))

Stem:
5-10cm x 1.5-5cm, tapering downward, solid becoming hollow; orange to yellowish; smooth or covered with minute fibers, (Lincoff), white at base, pale cream to buff above, becoming yellowish when old and bruising brownish; smooth, (Phillips), taller up to 40cm if fertile surface included, (Ammirati(1)), short and not sharply distinct from the cap, narrowed more or less to the base which is usually deeply sunken in the humus, solid at first but becoming hollow as the cavity in the cap deepens; whitish and unpolished, (Smith)

Odor:
not distinctive (Smith)

Taste:
not distinctive (Smith)

Microscopic spores:
spores 11.5-14 x 7-8 microns, elliptic, wrinkled to warted, colorless, (Lincoff), spores 11.5-20 x 6-10 microns, ornamentation of coarse warts and ridges up to 0.5 microns high, (Phillips), spores 12-15 x 6-7.5 microns, narrowly elliptic, exospore slightly wrinkled, spores ochraceous tawny in iodine, slightly yellowish in KOH; basidia 52-60 x 10-12 microns, clavate; cystidia not seen; no clamp connections, (Smith)

Spore deposit:
ocher (Lincoff, Miller), dull ocher (Phillips), ochraceous (Smith)

Notes:
T. floccosus has been found at least in BC, WA, OR, ID, NB, NS, ON, QC, AL, CA, CT, GA, MA, ME, MI, NH, NJ, NC, NY, PA, TN, VT, WV, and Mexico, (Petersen). Gomphus bonarii has also been found in AZ, CO, and NM, (Petersen).

EDIBILITY

causes digestive upset in some (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea), onset can be delayed, may be due to norcaperatic acid, (Benjamin(1)), compounds have been found that may be harmful to the liver (Ammirati(1)), onset of symptoms delayed 8-14 hours, (Ammirati(11))

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Gomphus floccosus (Schwein.) Singer
Marasmius subvenosus Peck