Cortinarius californicus
Contr. Univ. Mich. Herb. 3: 37. 1939.
Common Name: none
For description see Smith & 'California Mushrooms'.
Solitary to scattered to clustered in humus under tanbark oak and conifers (fir, spruce); not uncommon, fruiting from fall through early winter in northern California.
Unknown.
Cortinarius californicus is known from California into Canada and east into Idaho. It can be recognized by a smooth, hygrophanous, burgundy-reddish, often umbonate cap, bright orange to reddish orange gills, and a bright purple KOH reaction on the tissue. As it ages, C. californicus loses its distinctive coloration, becoming dingy orange-brown overall. It is similar to the rarely collected Cortinarius neosanguineus, which is smaller with an appressed-fibrillose, non-hygrophanous, darker red cap with red context tissues. Cortinarius sierraensis differs with a non-hygrophanous, silky-fibrillose cap only up to 40 mm broad, dark red young gills, reddish orange stipe surface and context tissues, and growth with lodgepole pine at high elevations.
Ammirati, J.F. (1989). Dermocybe, sugenus Dermocybe, section Sanguineae in Northern California. Mycotaxon 34: 21-36. Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Smith, A.H. (1939). Studies in the genus Cortinarius I. Contr. Univ. Mich. Herb. 2: 1-42. (Protologue)
