Cortinarius vanduzerensis

Appearance

Young fruit bodies of ''C. vanduzerensis'' are covered with a slimy universal veil; the slime layer persists on the cap of young mushrooms, or in moist weather. The shape of the cap is oval to conical with the margin initially appressed, expanding to broadly conic or somewhat flattened in maturity, eventually reaching diameters of 4–8 cm . The cap color is initially chestnut-brown to black, but becomes paler brown as it matures. The surface is radially wrinkled or corrugated, especially near the margin. The flesh is pallid but soon pale cinnamon-buff. The odor and taste are not distinctive. A drop of FeSO4 solution applied to the surface of the cap will turn olive-green.

The gills are pinkish-buff when young , dull cinnamon-brown at maturity when the spores mature. They are packed close together, and are adnate or adnexed. The stem is 10–18 cm long, 1–2 cm thick, narrowed slightly to the base. It is pallid within but slowly cinnamon buff at least near the base. The stem surface has a thick slime-veil, and is lavender to light purple on the upper portion, but darker on the lower portion. Sometimes the universal veil breaks up into concentric zones over the lower third of the stem.

The edibility of the mushroom is not known. David Arora notes that it is "much too slippery to be of value".

The spore print is a rusty-brown color. In face view, the spores are broadly elliptic to ovate , while in profile they appear broadly inequilateral; they have dimensions of 12–14 by 7–8 μm. The spore surface is roughened with warts, and they lack an apical pore. The spores contain two nuclei. The basidia are four-spored, broadly club-shaped, and have contents that are often in the form of yellow masses or granules when stained in Melzer's reagent. The cheilocystida are club-shaped, sometimes with an abruptly tapering point, and measure 17–26 by 9–15 μm. There are no pleurocystidia . The gill tissue is made of hyphae that are arranged in a roughly parallel fashion ; there are also brownish to orange-brown fat-containing hyphae present. The epicutis of the cap is made of a turf of gelatinous hyphae that measure 2.5–6 μm wide; clamp connections are absent to rare in the hyphae. The veil hyphae are 4–8 μm wide, and hyaline to yellow when mounted in a dilute solution of KOH. The hyphae of the cortex of the stem are subparallel, and clamps are present.

Naming

Smith and Trappe noted a similarity to the European ''Cortinarius elatior'', but this species has violet gills at first. ''C. collinitis'' has a lighter brown slimy cap, with glutinous bands on the stem that are rarely tinged purple. A third species in this group, ''C. cylindripes'' has a lighter colored, sometimes wrinkled cap, and gills that are pale purple when young with fringed edges. ''C. stillatitius'' is a related European species found in coniferous forests. Another glutinous, dark-brown capped species with which ''C. vanduzerensis'' might be confused is ''Phaeocollybia spadicea'', but this species has pseudorhiza at the stem base and gills that are free from attachment to the stem.

Distribution

''Cortinarius vanduzerensis'' is a mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in association with conifer trees. The fruit bodies grow solitarily, scattered, in rings or in groups under spruce, hemlock, and Douglas-fir. The mushroom is known only from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, including the Queen Charlotte Islands on the north Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It fruits in the autumn and early winter, or in the late summer in western Canada. Its frequency of occurrence has been described variously as "very common", to "fairly common", or "rare" everywhere except Oregon".

Habitat

''Cortinarius vanduzerensis'' is a mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in association with conifer trees. The fruit bodies grow solitarily, scattered, in rings or in groups under spruce, hemlock, and Douglas-fir. The mushroom is known only from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, including the Queen Charlotte Islands on the north Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It fruits in the autumn and early winter, or in the late summer in western Canada. Its frequency of occurrence has been described variously as "very common", to "fairly common", or "rare" everywhere except Oregon".