Interim "Skeleton Key" to some common species of 
INOCYBE in the Pacific Northwest
By Dr. Daniel Stuntz ca. 1978
Footnotes (containing species descriptions) by Ian Gibson 2004
(In Word, choose View -> Footnotes if not visible.)
Copyright Pacific Northwest Key Council 1978, 2004

Key to species	2
Glossary	13
Selected References	14
Index	15

KEY TO SPECIES

1a	Cap uniformly white or ivory or pale cream color	2

1b	Cap straw color, ochre, yellow, or some shade of brown, at least at the center (margin may be pallid or cream color or yellow)	11

2a	Stipe pruinose (as if covered with fine sand; use a hand lens) only at the top if at all	3

2b	Stipe pruinose in its entire length	5

3a	Odor strong of green corn	I. sororia

3b	Odor not of green corn	4

4a	Cap and stipe white, becoming flushed or stained with pink or red, especially when dried	I. pudica

4b	Cap and stipe white, not developing any pink or red stains, and not becoming pink when dried	I. geophylla

5a	(2b)  Odor sweet, like sweet pea or lily-of-the-valley, or both	I. suaveolens

5b	Odor not as in the above	6

6a	Stipe pink at the apex only, or all over	7

6b	Stipe ivory, cream color, or pale yellow, lacking pink colors	8

7a	Pileus entirely white; stipe pink all over	I. grammata

7b	Pileus cream color; stipe pink at the apex only, elsewhere cream color or ivory	I. kauffmanii

8a	(6b)  Stipe discoloring dingy brown or gray or nearly black, from the base up, in older specimens and when dried	9

8b	Stipe not discoloring brown or gray, remaining pale yellow in older specimens and when dried	10

9a	Odor sharp, penetrating, resinous with component of acetic acid; stipe discoloring dull brown or vinaceous brown rather than gray	I. picrosma

9b	Odor merely spermatic or scarcely notable; stipe discoloring definitely gray, frequently dark gray	I. leucomelaena

10a	(8b)  Pileus silky, soon becoming scaly at least at the center, not lubricous when wet		
		I. kauffmanii

10b	Pileus becoming rimose but not scaly; lubricous when wet	I. mixtilis
11a	(1b)  Odor strong of green corn	I. sororia

11b	Odor varies, but not of green corn	12

12a	Pileus white at the center, grayish vinaceous or brownish vinaceous at the margin; stipe pink, entirely pruinate, with a definite marginate bulb	I. grammata

12b	Not with all three of the above features	13

13a	Center of pileus either brown or slate gray or nearly black, these colors shading to white or dingy ivory at the margin, and - base of the stipe the same color as the center of the pileus, shading up to white at the apex	14

13b	Neither cap nor stipe colored as in the above	15

14a	Center of pileus and base of stipe gray to nearly black	I. fuscodisca

14b	Center of pileus and base of stipe red-brown to umber, without any gray tones	
		I. agglutinata
15a	(13b)  Young gills orange (use unopened caps)	I. cinnamomea

15b	Young gills white, pale cream, greenish, or some shade of lavender or purplish	16

16a	Young gills and apex of stipe lavender, lilac, violet, or similar purplish color	17

16b	Young gills white, pale cream, yellow, or tinged greenish	18

17a	Stipe lavender at the apex, pallid below and with streaks of brown fibrils or tomentum		
		I. cincinnata

17b	Stipe entirely lavender or violet, satiny, lacking brown fibrillose or tomentose streaks	
		I. pusio

18a	(16b)  Stipe entirely pruinose	19

18b	Stipe pruinose at the apex only, if at all, elsewhere satiny, glabrous, fibrillose-streaked, fibrillose-scaly, squarrose, or tomentose, but not pruinose below the apex	26

19a	Stipe some shade of pink, at least at the apex	20

19b	Stipe entirely without pink colors	22

20a	Stipe entirely pink; pileus uniformly bay or umber, or red-brown at the center and yellow at the margin	21

20b	Stipe pink at the apex only, elsewhere cream color or ivory: pileus at most dingy yellowish or straw color	I. kauffmanii

21a	Mature pileus red-brown (bay) at the center, brassy yellow at the margin; stipe bright salmon pink	I. laetior

21b	Mature pileus uniformly red-brown or umber; stipe usually very pale pink	
		I. glabrodisca

22a	(19b)  Odor sweet, like sweet pea or lily-of-the-valley, or both	I. suaveolens

22b	Odor sharp and resinous-acetic, or spermatic, or not notable	23

23a	Stipe discoloring dingy brown or gray or nearly black from the base up, in older specimens and when dried	24

23b	Stipe not discoloring brown or gray, remaining pale yellow in older specimens and when dried	25

24a	Odor sharp, penetrating, resinous with component of acetic acid; stipe discoloring dull brown or vinaceous brown rather than gray	I. picrosma

24b	Odor merely spermatic or scarcely notable; stipe discoloring definitely gray, frequently dark gray	I. leucomelaena

25a	(23b)  Pileus silky, soon becoming scaly at least at the center, not lubricous when wet	
		I. kauffmanii

25b	Pileus becoming rimose but not scaly: lubricous when wet	I. mixtilis

26a	(18b)  Stipe yellow ochre, frequently darkening to smoky brown at the base; pileus either uniformly yellow ochre, or brown at the center and yellow ochre at the margin
		I. olympiana

26b	Stipe white, ivory, cream color, pink, or some shade of brown; pileus either uniformly brown, or in one case, bicolorous	27

27a	Pileus bicolorous, tawny or orange brown at the center, shading to straw color or yellow at the margin, conic or at least sharply umbonate; gills often with a distinct greenish cast; stipe satiny, glabrous, dingy pallid; odor strong, spermatic	I. rimosa

27b	Pileus uniformly brown, or the center a deeper shade of the same brown as the margin, not bicolorous, not conic or sharply umbonate; lamellae never with a greenish cast; stipe varies in color and surface	28

28a	Stipe flesh-pink or rosy-pink, at least at the apex	I. subdestricta

28b	Stipe white or pallid or some shade of brown, lacking any pink colors	29

29a	Stipe white or pallid, in age sometimes flushed with vinaceous brown; odor complex, of green corn then becoming sweet-aromatic with lingering green corn component	
		I. lanatodisca

29b	Stipe brown; odor fishy, spermatic, or not notable	30

30a	Pileus silky-smooth, becoming rimose but not scaly	31

30b	Pileus definitely scaly	32

31a	Stipe glabrous, satiny, with a napiform (turnip-shaped) bulb	I. napipes

31b	Stipe fibrillose-streaked, lacking a bulb at the base	I. lacera

32a	(30b)  Stipe merely fibrillose-streaked, not scaly or tomentose; pileus lacerate-fibrillose-scaly, not squarrose	I. lacera

32b	Pileus squarrose; stipe either squarrose, or tomentose at least at the base or lower half	33

33a	Stipe fibrillose-squarrose, dull green inside and out at the base; odor like raw fish (sometimes with a resinous component); growing on the ground	I. calamistrata

33b	Stipe tomentose at least in lower part, not green at the base; odor spermatic or not notable; growing on rotten wood	I. lanuginosa group

GLOSSARY

apedicellate - without a pedicel or stalk
applanate - horizontally expanded, plane, flat
avellaneous - dull grayish brown, hazel-brown, or light gray yellow brown, or closer to drab, or gray tinged with pink, in Ridgway 1912 closer to pinkish buff
bicolorous - of two colors
boletoid - of spores, resembling spores of boletes, which are typically long and narrowly elliptic or spindle-shaped in face view and inequilateral in profile
capitate - with a head
catenate - in chains or end to end series
caulocystidium (pl. caulocystidia) - cystidium on stipe (stem)
caulocystidioid - like a caulocystidium
cheilocystidium (pl. cheilocystidia) - cystidium on edge of gill
cheilocystidioid - like a cheilocystidium
clavate - like a caveman's club, same as club-shaped; when used of stems, implies base is thicker and stem tapers upward; when used of cystidia, implies part that extends outward beyond the hymenium is thicker
crystalliferous - bearing crystals
cystidium (pl. cystidia) - a sterile cell frequently of distinctive shape, at any surface of a fruiting body
equal - of a stem, the same diameter throughout its length
farinaceous - of odor, with the smell of fresh ground meal from whole grain 
floccose - with easily removed cottony or woolly tufts; woolly or cottony; dry and loosely arranged; having the appearance of cotton flannel; with a soft cottony texture
flocculose - with fine, easily removed cottony or woolly tufts; finely woolly or cottony
fuscous - color of a very dark storm cloud: variously described as combinations of gray, brown, purple, or black
fusiform - spindle-shaped, fairly slender and narrowing from middle to both ends 
glabrescent - becoming bald
glabrous - bald, without hairs or raised fibers or scales or raised patches
hispid - covered with long rough hairs or bristles
hygrophanous - surface changing color markedly as it dries, usually having a water-soaked appearance when wet and turning a lighter opaque color on drying
inflexed - bent inward, incurved
lageniform - of cystidia, swollen at the base with the middle and top part tapered into a long beak, like a gourd, therefore gourd-like
lanceolate - of a cystidium, slightly swollen at or below the middle and tapered to both ends, hence lance-shaped
lubricous - greasy or slippery or oily but not viscid (sticky) or slimy
marginate - of bulb at the base of stem, having a circular ridge that forms the top of the bulb
nodulose - of spores, covered with broad-based blunt bumps large enough to change the overall shape of the spore
notched - refers to a gill that appears as if a wedge of the  gill had been removed near the stem (includes sinuate and uncinate but not adnexed)
paracystidia - short club-shaped sterile cells between and among other cystidia
pedicel - of cystidia, a slender stalk
pleurocystidium (pl. pleurocystidia) - cystidium on sides of gills
pruinate - same as pruinose
pruinose - looking finely powdered or finely granular, on the stem generally reflecting the presence of caulocystidia
pyriform - pear-shaped
recurved - curved back: when used of cap margin or scales on cap or stem means curved back upward
rimose - cracked, referring to surface of cap or stem, often revealing paler flesh underneath
saccate - of a cystidium, shaped like a sac
spermatic - resembling the odor of male flowers of Castanea (chestnut catkins)
squamulose - with small scales
squarra (pl. squarrae) - upright or curved-up pointed scale
squarrose - covered with upright or curved-up pointed scales
sub- - prefix meaning nearly, more or less, somewhat, slightly
tomentose - covered with soft hairs, often soft densely matted hairs, like a woollen blanket
tomentum - a covering of densely matted woolly hairs
umber - a deep dull dark brown, smoky brown; earth brown sometimes with a very slight reddish tinge
ventricose - wider in the middle

SELECTED REFERENCES

Arora, David.  1986   Mushrooms Demystified   Second Edition.  Ten Speed Press, Berkeley. 
Breitenbach, J., Kränzlin, F.  2000.   Fungi of Switzerland  Volume 5 Agarics  Part 3. Cortinariaceae.  Edition Mykologia Lucerne.
Cripps, Cathy L.  1997.  "The genus Inocybe in Montana aspen stands."  Mycologia 89(4) 670-688.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1968.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  I."  Mycologia 60:406-425.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1970.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  II."  Mycologia 62:925-939.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1975.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  III."  Mycologia 67:19-31.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1977.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  IV."  Mycologia 69:392-408.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1980.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  V."  Mycologia 72:670-688.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1981.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  VI."  Mycologia 73:655-674.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1983.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  VII."  Mycologia 75:257-270.
Grund, D.W., D.E. Stuntz.  1984.  "Nova Scotian Inocybes.  VIII."  Mycologia 76:733-740.
Kauffman, C.H.  1924.  "Inocybe."  North American Flora 10: 248ff.
Kuhner, R. 1933.  "Notes sur le genre Inocybe".  Bull. Soc. Mycol. Fr. 49: 81-121.
Kuyper, Thomas W.  1986.  A Revision of the Genus Inocybe in Europe. I. Subgenus Inosperma and the Smooth-Spored Species of Subgenus Inocybe.  Rijksherbarium, Leiden.
Malloch, David.  1973. "Inocybe dulcamara."  Fungi Canadenses No. 3. Agriculture Canada, Ottawa.
Matheny, P. Brandon, Bradley R. Kropp.  2001.  "A revision of the Inocybe lanuginosa group and allied species in North America."  Sydowia 53(1): 93-139.
Matheny, P. Brandon, Yajuan J. Liu, Joseph F. Ammirati, and Benjamin D. Hall.  2002.  "Using RPB1 sequences to improve phylogenetic inference among mushrooms (Inocybe, Agaricales)."  American Journal of Botany 89(4): 688-698.
Nishida, Florence H.  1988.  "New Species of Inocybe from Southern California."  Mycotaxon 33: 213-222.
Nishida, Florence H.  1989.  "Key to the Species of Inocybe in California."  Mycotaxon  34(1): 181-196.
Smith, Alexander H.  1941.  "New and Unusual Agarics from North America. II."  Mycologia 33(1):1-16.
Smith, Alexander H., Daniel E. Stuntz.  1950.  "New or Noteworthy Fungi from Mt. Rainier National Park."  Mycologia 42: 80-134.
Smith, Alexander H., Smith Helen V., Weber, Nancy S.  1979.  How to Know the Gilled Mushrooms.  Wm. C. Brown Company, Dubuque, Iowa.
Stuntz, Daniel.  1947.  "Studies in the Genus Inocybe. I. New and Noteworthy Species from Washington."  Mycologia 39: 21-55.

INDEX
(Note some of these Pacific Northwest species are not mentioned in the key.)

	Species	Key lead	Page

INOCYBE  (Fr.) Fr.
	I. agglutinata  Peck	14b	5
	I. albodisca  Quél. -  See. I. grammata
I. armeniaca  Huijsman  
I. brunneolipes  Grund & D.E. Stuntz
	I. calamistrata  (Fr.) P. Karst.	33a	11
I. castanea  Peck
	I. catalaunica Singer	28a	9
I. chalcodoxantha  Grund & D.E. Stuntz
	I. chelanensis  D.E. Stuntz		1
I. cicatricata Ellis & Ev.
	I. cincinnata  (Fr) Quél. var. major  (S. Peterson) Kuyper	17a	6
  	  = I. phaeocomis  (Pers.) Kuyper  var. major  S. Peterson sensu Kuyper & Stangl 
  	  = I. cincinnatula  Kuhn.
  	  = I. obscuroides  Orton
	I. cincinnatula Kühner - see I. cincinnata var. major
	I. cinnamomea  A.H. Sm.	15a	6
	I. dulcamara  (Pers.) P. Kumm.		1
I. eutheloides  Peck
I. fallax  Peck
	I. fastigiata (Schaeff.) Quél. - see I. rimosa
	I. flavella  P. Karst.	27a	9
	I. flavidolilacina (Britz.) Sacc.	4a	2
I. flocculosa  Sacc.
	  = I. lucifuga  (Fr.) Quél.
	I. fraudans  (Britz.) Sacc.	4a	2
	  = I. pyriodora  (Pers.: Fr.) Kumm. sensu Kauffman, D.E. Stuntz
	I. fuscidula  Vel.	28a	9
	I. fuscodisca  (Peck) Massee	14a	5
	I. geophylla  (Fr.) P. Kumm.	4b	2
	I. glabrodisca  Orton	21b	7
  	  = I. decemgibbosa  (Kuehner) Vauras
  	  = I. oblectabilis  (Britz.) Sacc.  f.  decemgibbosa  Kühner
	I. griseolilacina  J. Lange	17a	6
	I. grammata  Quél.	7a, 10b, 12a	3, 4, 5
	  = I. albodisca  Peck
I. griseoscabrosa  (Peck) Earle
I. hemileuca F.H. Nishida & D.E. Stuntz
I. heterochrominea  Grund & D.E. Stuntz
	I. hirsuta  (Lasch) Quél.  var. maxima  A.H. Sm. sensu Grund & D.E. Stuntz	33a	11
I. hotsoniana  D.E. Stuntz
I. intricata  Peck  var. pallidistipitata  Grund & D.E. Stuntz
I. jacobi  Kühn.
	  = I. fulvella sensu D.E. Stuntz 1947
	I. kauffmanii  A.H. Sm.	7b, 10a, 20b, 25a	3, 4, 7, 8
  	  = I. longipes  Kauffman
	I. lacera  (Fr.) P. Kumm.	31b, 32a	11, 11
	I. laetior  D.E. Stuntz	21a	7
	I. lanatodisca  Kauffman	29a	10
	I. lanuginosa  (Bull.: Fr.) P. Kumm.	33b	12
  	  = I. nodulospora  (Peck) Sacc.
	  = I. ovatocystis  Boursier & Kühner
	I. leiocephala  D.E. Stuntz - see I. catalaunica
	I. leptophylla  G.F. Atk.	33b	12
	I. leucomelaena	9b, 24b	4, 8
	I. lilacina  (Boud.) Kauffman	4a, 4b	2, 2
	  = I. geophylla var. lilacina  (Peck) Gillet
	I. maculata  Boud.	29a	10
	I. mixtilis  (Britzelm.) Sacc.	10b	4
  	  = I. trechispora  (Berk.) Karst. sensu Kauffman
	I. napipes  Lange	10b, 31a	4, 11
	I. nitidiuscula  (Britzelm.) Sacc.	21a, 28a	7, 9
  	  =  I. friesii  R. Heim
  	  =  I. subdestricta Kauffman ?
I. oblectabilis (Britzelm.) Sacc. forma decemgibbosa Kühner - see I. glabrodisca
I. obscuroides sensu D.E. Stuntz - see I. pusio
	I. olympiana  A.H. Sm.	26a	9
I. pallidipes  Ellis & Ev.
I. petiginosa  (Fr.) Gillet
	I. phaeocomis  (Pers.) Kuyper  var. major  S. Peterson sensu Kuyper & Stangl - see I. cincinnata var. major
	I. picrosma  D.E. Stuntz	7b, 9a, 24a	3, 4, 8
I. posterula  (Britz.) Sacc.
	I. praetervisa Quél., Bres.	10b	4
I. prominens  Kauffman
	  = I. umboninota  Peck
	I. pudica  Kühner	4a	2
  	  = I. whitei  (Berk. & Br.) Sacc.  f. whitei  sensu Kuyper
	I. pusio  Karst.	17b	6
	  = I. obscuroides sensu D.E. Stuntz
	I. pyriodora  (Pers.: Fr.) Kumm. sensu Kauffman, D.E. Stuntzs - see I. fraudans
	I. pyrotricha  D.E. Stuntz	17a	6
	I. rainierensis  D.E. Stuntz		1
	I. rimosa  (Bull.: Fr.) P. Kumm.	27a	9
  	  = I. fastigiata  (Schaeff. ex Fr.) Quél.  
  	  = I. holoxantha  Grund & D.E. Stuntz
	  = I. confusa  P. Karst.
I. semifulva  Grund & D.E. Stuntz
I. sindonia  (Fr.) P. Karst.
I. soluta Velen.
	I. sororia  Kauffman	3a, 11a	2, 5
	I. stellatospora  (Peck) Massee	33b	12
	  = I. longicystis  G.F. Atk. non Velen.
	  = I. lanuginosa sensu M.M. Moser
	  = I. lanuginosa sensu Stangl
	I. suaveolens  D.E. Stuntz	5a, 22a	3, 8
	I. subcarpta  Kühner & Boursier	33b	12
	I. subdecurrens  Ellis & Ev.
	I. subdestricta Kauffman	28a	9
	I. submuricellata  G.F. Atk.
	I. umbratica  Quél.
	I. variabillima  Speg.
	  = I. acystidiosa  Kauffman
	  = I. decipientoides  Peck
	  = I. astoriana  Murrill
	I. volvata  D.E. Stuntz
	I. xanthomelas  Boursier & Kühner	10b	4