Gymnopilus luteofolius (Peck) Singer
Lilloa 22: 560. 1951.

Common Name: none

Synonym: Pholiota luteofolia

• Pileus

  Cap 2.5-8 cm broad, convex, broadly convex to nearly plane in age, often with a low umbo; margin incurved becoming decurved; surface squamulose, the squamules often raised at the disc, appressed near the margin or merely fibrillose, senescing to nearly glabrous; color: dull vinaceous-purple, soon fading to vinaceous-brown to dull brownish-pink; flesh firm, whitish, vinaceous-purple adjacent the cuticle and gills, flesh thin at the margin, moderately thick at the disc; odor, indistinct to faintly farinaceous; taste, bitter.

• Lamellae

  Gills notched to uncinate, close, moderately broad, at first cream-buff with a pinkish tinge, becoming yellow ochraceous-buff, finally bright orange-brown from maturing spores.

• Stipe

  Stipe 2-8 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm thick, more or less equal to slightly enlarged at the base, hollow to stuffed at maturity; surface appressed fibrillose-striate, colored like the cap with intervening pallid streaks, veil evanescent, fibrillose, cream-buff, leaving a fibrillose annular zone near the apex or fragments on the young cap; buff-colored mycelium at the base.

• Spores

  Spores 6-8 x 3.5-5 µm, elliptical, roughened, dextrinoid; spore print bright orange-brown.

• Habitat

  Gregarious to clustered in wood chips, and downed wood of both deciduous and conifers; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter.

• Edibility

  Mildly hallucinogenic according to Stamets.

• Comments

  This handsome wood rotter has a vinaceous-purple to vinaceous-brown, squamulose cap, often with scattered dull-green spots. Though Smith & Hesler in their monograph of Gymnopilus did not mention the latter feature in their description, Stamets has observed that the green color can develop under low temperature. We originally believed our collections to be Gymnopilus aeruginosus because of the green stains, but have concluded that overall they are a bettter match for G. luteofolius, especially the the veil, cap color, and cap flesh characters. In Gymnopilus luteofolius the veil is fibrillose-membranous and the cap flesh whitish to vinaceous-purple while in G. aeruginosus the veil is merely fibrillose and the cap flesh tends to be tinged green. A look-alike species for Gymnopilus luteofolius is Tricholomopsis rutilans. It is similarly colored, also grows on wood, but can be distinguished by a white spore print and the lack of a veil.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Darvin DeShazer: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Darvin DeShazer: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP) -- note the fibrillose-membranous veil
  • Michael Wood: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Gymnopilus luteofolius (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 409 (D & P)
  • Hesler: p. 74 (D), p. 125 (I)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)