Hygrophorus albofloccosus
Persoonia 46: 298. 2021.
Common Name: none
Misapplied name: Hygrophorus agathosmus Fries
Cap 3.0-7.0 cm broad, convex, expanding to plano-convex, the disc sometimes subumbonate to slightly depressed; margin at first incurved, then decurved; surface viscid when moist, glabrous, light-grey, darker at the disc; context white, unchanging, soft, up to 1.0 cm thick at the disc, rapidly thinning towards the margin; odor and taste almond-like.
Gills adnate to subdecurrent, subdistant, white, ash-grey in age; waxy, relatively thin; lamellulae in 3-4 series.
Stipe 4.0-7.0 cm long, 1.0-2.0 cm thick, equal to narrowed at the base, stuffed in age; surface moist, not viscid, white, finely flocculose or pruinose at apex, nearly glabrous to innately-striate below; partial veil absent.
Spores 7.5-9.5 x 4.0-5.5 µm, smooth, thin-walled, elliptical in face-view, inequilateral in profile, hilar appendage conspicuous, inamyloid; spores white in deposit.
Scattered or in small groups under conifers, e.g. pines (Pinus spp), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and spruce (Picea spp.); coastal forests and and lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter; occasional.
Probably edible.
An almond-like odor and viscid, greyish cap are hallmarks of Hygrophorus albofloccosus. The odor while pleasing, is not unique, thus it should be compared with other almond-scented waxy caps. These include Hygrophorus odoratus, a small species reported from Idaho under conifers. It also has viscid, grey cap, but the gills are strongly, not subdecurrent. Hygrophorus bakerensis is a large, robust species, the cap up to 12 cm broad, with an ochre-tinged, brownish cap; Hygrophorus pacificus has a brown to tawny-brown, often wavy-margined cap and occurs under spruce (Picea spp).
Hygrophorus agathosmoides, Hygrophorus albofloccosus and Hygrophorus pinophilus all belong to the Hygrophorus agathosmus species complex (see Bellanger et al.).
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