Pacific Northwest Species of Phaeocollybia, revised 2010
Material adapted with permission from pp. 38–41 in Phaeocollybia of Pacific Northwest North America. (Lorelei L. Norvell & Ronald L. Exeter. 2008. USDI BLM/OR/WA/GI-08/100-1792. ISBN–13: 978-0-9791310-1-1; ISBN-10: 0-9791310-1-4. 228 pp.) Available from USDI-BLM, Salem (Oregon) District. Subject to copyright. In addition, copyright for photographs is held by each photographer. Do not copy photographs without permission.
SPECIES | (Norvell & Exeter 2008 page reference) |
Phaeocollybia ammiratii Norvell 2000 | 45 |
Phaeocollybia attenuata (A.H. Sm.) Singer 1951 | 51 |
Phaeocollybia benzokauffmanii Norvell 2000 | 57 |
Phaeocollybia californica A.H. Sm. 1957 | 63 |
Phaeocollybia dissiliens A.H. Sm. & Trappe 1972 | 71 |
Phaeocollybia fallax A.H. Sm. 1957 | 77 |
Phaeocollybia gregaria A.H. Sm. & Trappe 1972 | 85 |
Phaeocollybia kauffmanii (A.H. Sm.) Singer 1940 | 91 |
Phaeocollybia lilacifolia A.H. Sm. 1957 | 99 |
Phaeocollybia luteosquamulosa Norvell 2000 | 107 |
Phaeocollybia ochraceocana Norvell & Exeter 2007 | 113 |
Phaeocollybia olivacea A.H. Sm. 1957 | 119 |
Phaeocollybia oregonensis A.H. Sm. & Trappe 1972 | 125 |
Phaeocollybia phaeogaleroides Norvell 2002 | 131 |
Phaeocollybia piceae A.H. Sm. & Trappe 1972 | 137 |
Phaeocollybia pleurocystidiata Norvell & Redhead 2000 | 143 |
Phaeocollybia pseudofestiva A.H. Sm. 1957 | 149 |
Phaeocollybia radicata (Murrill) Singer 1951 | 155 |
Phaeocollybia redheadii Norvell 2000 | 161 |
Phaeocollybia rifflipes Norvell 2002 | 169 |
Phaeocollybia scatesiae A.H. Sm. & Trappe 1972 | 181 |
Phaeocollybia sipei A.H. Sm. 1957 | 187 |
Phaeocollybia spadicea A.H. Sm. 1957 | 193 |
SYNONYMS AND MISAPPLICATIONS |
Naucoria attenuata Smith 1937 | see P. attenuata |
Naucoria festiva sensu Smith (1937) | see P. fallax |
Naucoria kauffmanii Smith 1937 | see P. kauffmanii |
Naucoria lugubris sensu Smith (1937) | see P. spadicea |
Phaeocollybia carmanahensis Redhead & Norvell 1993 | see P. oregonensis |
Phaeocollybia rufotubulina Norvell 2004 (Norvell & Exeter 2008, p. 175) |
see P. californica |
Phaeocollybia similis sensu Smith (1957b), Smith & Trappe (1972) | see P. attenuata |
Phaeocollybia tibiikauffmanii Norvell 2004 (Norvell & Exeter 2008, p. 199) |
see P. spadicea |
EXCLUDED SPECIES |
Phaeocollybia perplexa Orton 1960 | |
See Stagnicola perplexa (Orton) Redhead & A.H. Sm. 1986 | |
Phaeocollybia deceptiva A.H. Sm. & Trappe 1972 | |
Not a phaeocollybia; believed to represent an unknown species of Cortinarius | |
(see also Norvell 1998a, Norvell & Exeter 2007) |
Key to the Phaeocollybia species of Pacific Northwest North America
Note — I have adapted our published key to reflect DNA sequence data received after it was too late to send in major text revisions for Norvell & Exeter (2008), then in press. Although we indicated the problems with P. rufotubulina and P. tibiikauffmanii in the key and the species treatments, the published key retained both species. Subsequent DNA sequence analyses suggest there are at least four new species, which we hope to name in the near future. — Lorelei Norvell
1a. Fruitbody small; stipe apex usually ≤ 4 mm across, never drab apically; cap usually ≤ 50 mm broad, orange, tawny, or yellow-brown, but never green or drab ..........................................................2 | |
1b. Fruitbody medium to large; stipe apex usually > 5 mm across, color varied; cap usually ≥ 50 mm broad, varied in color, including green or drab ..........................................................5 | |
2a. (1) Basidiospores ellipsoid, minutely punctate ornamentation and slightly pointed apical callus visible under high power oil immersion; clamp connections present ..........................................................3 | |
2b. Basidiospores limoniform, verrucose to warty ornamentation and protruding apical beak visible without oil immersion lens; clamp connections absent ..........................................................4 | |
3a. (2) Spores small, ~5.8 × 3.2 µm; cheilocystidia thick-walled, tibiiform with narrow necks, abundant but inconspicuous and difficult to see; fruitbody collybioid with stipe pliable, not easily broken; phenology autumnal (October–December) ..........................................................P. radicata |
![]() Ron Exeter |
3b. Spores large, ~10.3 × 6 µm; cheilocystidia thin-walled, narrowly clavate, extending well beyond hymenium; fruitbody mycenoid with stipe fragile and easily broken; phenology vernal (April–May) or autumnal (October–December) ..........................................................P. phaeogaleroides |
![]() Ron Exeter |
4a. (2)Stipe and pseudorhiza fleshy, not shiny or brittle; cheilocystidia thick-walled, tibiiform; pleurocystidia similar, frequent on gill faces; spores tapering to straight beaks, ~9.2 × 6 µm; phenology vernal (February–May) ..........................................................P. pleurocystidiata |
![]() Ron Exeter |
4b. Stipe polished, corneous; pseudorhiza brittle and wire-like (criniform); cheilocystidia thin-walled, clavate; pleurocystidia absent; spores big-bellied with abrupt tilted beaks, ~9 × 5.75 µm; phenology late autumn and winter (October–January) ..........................................................P. attenuata |
![]() Ron Exeter |
5a. (1) Young cap green, often aging brownish olive or brown; spores limoniform ..........................................................6 | |
5b. Young cap ochre, orange, tawny, brownish, or drab (never green); spore shape varied ..........................................................8 | |
6a. (5) Young gills violet; spores moderately beaked, in face view fusoid or naviculate, verrucose to marbled, ~9 × 5.3 µm; cheilocystidia thin-walled, clavate with swollen to subcapitate heads, rarely forming filiform apical outgrowths ..........................................................P. fallax |
![]() Ron Exeter |
6b. Young gills creamy to yellowish buff; spores with pronounced beaks, +/- ovate in face view, heavily rugulose warty roughened, size varied; cheilocystidia varied ..........................................................7 | |
7a. (6) Spores ~8 × 5 µm, with long, projecting beaks; cheilocystidia thick-walled, tibiiform with narrow refractive necks ..........................................................P. pseudofestiva |
![]() Ron Exeter |
7b. Spores ~10 × 6 µm, ‘turtle-backed’ with abruptly protruding eccentric refractive beaks; cheilocystidia thin-walled, clavate, in age often with apical filiform outgrowths ..........................................................P. olivacea |
![]() Michael Beug |
8a. (5) Spores ellipsoid or limoniform, length |x| = < 7.5 µm; cheilocystidia uniformly thin-walled ..........................................................9 | |
8b. Spores limoniform, length |x| = > 7.5 µm; cheilocystidia walls thin or thick ..........................................................13 | |
9a. (8) Spores limoniform, marbled to verrucose; clamps absent; pileipellis 2- or 3-layered ..........................................................10 | |
9b. Spores ellipsoid, punctate-roughened; clamps present or not; pileipellis 2-layered ..........................................................11 | |
10a. (9) Fruitbody small to medium, fragile (stipe ≤ 7 mm & cap ≤ 60 mm diam); cap bald, glutinous, tawny to dark brown; stipe polished, drab to violet (apex); stuffed to hollow, often insect-infested; pileipellis 2-layered with colorless top layer, dull brownish bottom layer; spores ~6.9 × 4.3 µm ..........................................................P. rifflipes |
![]() Ron Exeter |
10b. Fruitbody large, robust (stipe ≤ 28 mm & cap ≤ 120 mm diam); cap appressed-scaly, subviscid (never glutinous), ochraceous tawny to tawny; stipe matte, tan to brown, firmly stuffed, never insect infested; pileipellis 3-layered with yellow-orange top and bottom layers, colorless middle layer; spores ~7.4 × 4.7 µm ..........................................................P. ochraceocana |
![]() Ron Exeter |
11a. (9) Fruitbody overall drab to gray, robust with stout firmly stuffed pink to drab stipe (≤ 20 mm diam) and fleshy pseudorhiza; taste and odor cucumber-farinaceous; all tissues soon deep magenta in syringaldazine; spores ~6.8 × 4 µm ..........................................................P. oregonensis |
![]() Lorelei Norvell |
11b. Fruitbody overall orange, lacking drab colors, fragile with slender hollow tan stipe (≤ 13 mm diam) and cord-like pseudorhiza; taste and odor mild; cap & gills syringaldazine negative ..........................................................12 | |
12a. (11) Clamp connections abundant; cap bright to dull orange with yellowish margin; cheilocystidia irregularly filamentous to narrowly clavate; spores ~6.7 × 4.3 µm ..........................................................P. dissiliens |
![]() Ron Exeter |
12b. Clamp connections absent; cap uniformly brownish orange to auburn; cheilocystidia narrowly clavate with long pedicels and swollen (subcapitate) heads; spores ~6.5 × 3.8 µm ..........................................................P. sipei |
![]() Ron Exeter |
13a. (8) Cap minutely scaly (appressed), dry to subviscid (never glutinous), color ochre to tawny (never gray- or dark brown); pileipellis 3-layered with colorless gelatinized middle layer between yellow to yellow-orange top and bottom layers ..........................................................14 | |
13b. Cap bald, smooth, subviscid to glutinous and never appressed scaly, colors varied; pileipellis 2-layered, with colorless top layer and variously pigmented lower layer ..........................................................15 | |
14a. (13) Spores large, ~10 × 6 µm; cap dry to greasy, generally ochre (yellow-ochre, ochre-gold); frequently associated with Abies ..........................................................P. luteosquamulosa |
![]() Ron Exeter |
14b. Spores small, ~7.4 × 4.7 µm; cap greasy to subviscid, tawny ochraceous or tawny; associated with Pseudotsuga or Tsuga ..........................................................P. ochraceocana |
![]() Ron Exeter |
15a. (13) Cheilocystidia tibiiform, with thin-walled broad bases and narrow, refractive, thick-walled necks and capituli; stipes hollow or stuffed; clamp connections absent ..........................................................16 | |
15b. Cheilocystidia variably cylindrical to clavate, occasionally showing filamentous apical secondary growth in older specimens, but always lacking refractive thick-walled necks; stipes stuffed with firm pith; clamp connections present or absent ..........................................................18 | |
16a. (15) Cap viscid, tawny to dark chestnut brown; mature stipe stuffed with firm compact pith; fruitbodies scattered to closely gregarious, arising from unbranched fleshy (not cord-like) pseudorhizas; spore median short, < 8 µm long ..........................................................P. spadicea |
![]() Ron Exeter |
16b. Cap moist to glutinous, tawny orange to dull brown; mature stipe tubular and hollow; fruitbodies closely gregarious to fasciculate, arising from a rooting branching rhizomorphic cord; spore median medium-sized, > 8.5 µm long ..........................................................17 | |
17a. (16) Cap heavily glutinous, acutely conic-campanulate, yellow- to dark-brown; densely fasciculate, with scores of variably aged fruitbodies arising from one point on the subterranean cord; suprapellis thick, colorless with hyphae submerged in thick gel matrix and not spirally pigment-encrusted; spores ~8.5 µm long ..........................................................P. scatesiae |
![]() Ron Exeter |
17b. Cap moist to viscid, obtusely convex-campanulate, red orange to tawny; clustered in troops or arcs (rarely in fasciculate mounds); suprapellis compact, pale amber to orange with hyphae spirally encrusted and with refractive septa; spores ~9 µm long ..........................................................P. californica |
![]() Ron Exeter |
18a. (15) Clamp connections frequent throughout all tissues, most easily seen on the pileus suprapellis hyphae and cheilocystidia; cap convex-campanulate with an acutely pointed or often papillate umbo, tawny ochraceous to tawny; cheilocystidia cylindrical to narrowly clavate; spores ~9 × 5.5 µm ..........................................................P. ammiratii |
![]() Ron Exeter |
18b. Clamp connections lacking or rare (then only in stipe pellis); young cap shape & color, cheilocystidial shape, and spore sizes varied ..........................................................19 | |
19a. (18) Young gills whitish, smoky gray, or deep violet; young caps tawny, brownish-pink or drab; cap & gills magenta in syringaldazine ..........................................................20 | |
19b. Young gills pinkish, orangish, or yellowish; young caps varied, but rarely pink or drab; cap & gills magenta or not in syringaldazine ..........................................................21 | |
20a. (19) Young gills intensely bluish lilac to violet; cap tawny when young, soon darkening to dark brown; pseudorhiza syringaldazine negative; taste not farinaceous; spores ~8 × 5 µm ..........................................................P. lilacifolia |
![]() Steve Trudell |
20b. Young gills white (occasionally pinkish) or ash gray, never lilac or violet; cap pinkish, drab, or purple-brown; all tissues soon deep magenta in syringaldazine; taste ‘bitter cucumber’ farinaceous; spores ~9 × 5.5 µm ..........................................................P. benzokauffmanii |
![]() Lorelei Norvell |
21a. (19) Young cap yellow tan, usually lacking orange colors and zonate with darker banded edge, soon chestnut- or cocoa brown (rarely grayish or drab); young stipe ivory tan, with lower stipe staining orange with orange band at ground level; habit fasciculate, densely gregarious; young gills dark under UV; all tissues syringaldazine negative; spores moderately large, ~9.5 × 5.7 µm ..........................................................P. gregaria |
![]() Ron Exeter |
21b. Cap orangish to tawny, when young either overall orange, red-orange, or tawny or zonate with tawny to apricot-brown disc and pale amber margin; young stipe orange, buff, or pale cinnamon, lower stipe color varied; habit solitary, scattered, or gregarious; young gills fluoresce under UV; syringaldazine reactivity and spore size varied ..........................................................22 | |
22a. (21) Fruitbody moderately small to large; stipe slender (apex ≤ 12 mm diam), stuffed but soon insect-eaten at ground level; cap subviscid, uniformly bright apricot- to peach-colored, with conic umbo; all tissues negative in syringaldazine; pileipellis hyphae colorless, spirally gel-incrusted, subpellis pigments diffuse, not encrusting; spores ~9.4 × 6 µm, beaks short (≤ 5 µm), straight ..........................................................P. piceae |
![]() Lorelei Norvell |
22b. Fruitbody moderately large to massive; stipe robust (apex ≤ 25 mm diam), stuffed with firm, insect-free pith; cap viscid to glutinous, orange, tawny, or orange-/red-brown or zonate with tawny disc, amber margin, tan edge, umbo obtuse; all tissues strongly magenta in syringaldazine; pileus subpellis hyphae pigment-encrusted; spores varied in size, beaks long (≤ 1.5 µm), tilted or straight ..........................................................23 | |
23a. (22) Young to mature cap +/- uniformly orange, tawny, or dark orange-brown; lower stipe and pith staining first orange, then orange-brown; spores medium (~8.5 × 5 µm), lemon-shaped with tilted beak; cheilocystidia cylindrical or narrowly to broadly clavate, rarely pedicellate and subcapitate ..........................................................P. kauffmanii |
![]() Michael Beug |
23b. Young cap zonate with reddish tawny umbo, amber margin and tan edge, aging to overall tawny brown to dark red-brown; lower stipe and pith staining red-brown; spores large (~10.5 × 6 µm), almond-shaped with long ‘belly’ and slightly tilted beak; cheilocystidia usually pedicellate and catenulate, subcapitate with subglobose apices ..........................................................P. redheadii |
![]() Ron Exeter |
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