The North American Species of Pholiota

Subgenus Phaeonaematoloma (Singer) Singer

The spores may or may not be truncate, but chrysocystidia are present. This latter feature was not emphasized in Singer's 1951 account, but his type species possesses them.

Key to Sections

1. Annulus conspicuous and distinct	Sect. *Albivelatae*
1. Veil leaving a more or less evanescent zone	Sect. *Phaeonaematoloma*

Section Albivelatae sect. nov.

Annulus conspicuus, membranaceus vel floccosus; chrysocystidia adsunt. Typus P. albivelata.

Key to Species

1. Spores 9-12 4.5-6 µ	*P. sipei*
1. Spores smaller	2
2. Pileus pellicle well-developed; spores 7-9 x 4-5.5 µ	*P. albivelata*
2. Pileus lacking a gelatinous pellicle	3
3. Spores 4.5-6 x 3-4 µ	*P. duroides*
3. Spores 6-8 x 4-5 µ	4
4. Pleurocystidia 35-53 x 8-14 µ; spores with a germ pore	*P. cubensis*
4. Pleurocystidia 25-36 x 5-12 µ; spores without a pore	*P. johnsoniana*

Section Phaeonaematoloma (Singer) Singer

Lilloa 22: 517. 1951.

Flammula (Phaeonematoloma) Rev. Mycol. Paris. 2: 241. 1937.

Chrysocystidia or cells somewhat resembling them as to shape and content present in the hymenium; never with both the pileus and stipe distinctly scaly; spores not obviously truncate if the spore is less than 9 µ long; annulus not conspicuous.

Type species: Pholiota myosotis.

Key to Stirpes

1. Stipe viscid when young and fresh	Stirps *Silvatica*
1. Stipe not viscid when young	2
2. Pileus not viscid when young and fresh	Stirps *Elongata*
2. Pileus viscid when young and fresh	3
3. Spores typically 10 µ or more long and apex typically truncate	Stirps *Myosotis*
3. Spores typically under 10 µ long and pileus viscid (or in a few species merely subviscid) (See P. caespitosa and P. tennessensis also)	Stirps *Subochracea*

Stirps Silvatica

1. Stipe with a fibrillose inner veil and a gelatinous outer veil; base furnished with a pseudorhiza	*P. silvatica*
1. Stipe not radicating and a double veil not evident	*P. aberrans*

Stirps Myosotis

Stipe long and slender, growing in bogs or on peaty soil; pileus with a gelatinous pellicle.

Key to Species of Stirpes Elongata and Myosotis

1. Pileus with a gelatinous pellicle	2
1. Pileus lacking a gelatinous pellicle	3
2. Pileus olivaceous; pellicle thick and tough	*P. myosotis*
2. Pileus orange-tawny to dull cinnamon; pellicle thin and easily obliterated	*P. humidicola*
3. Stipe with a pseudorhiza; spores 6-8 x 4-5 µ	*P. olympiana*
3. Stipe lacking a pseudorhiza; spores 8-11 x 5-6 µ	*P. elongatipes*

Stirps Subochracea

1. Pileus and stipe blue becoming olivaceous and fading to dingy buff	*P. subcaerulea*
1. Not as above	2
2. Pileus olivaceous on margin, gills yellow before spores mature; stipe coarsely fibrillose-squamulose near base	*P. burkei*
2. Not as above	3
3. Spores 5-6 x 2.5-3 µ	*P. subochracea*
3. Spores 6-8 (9) x 3 -5 µ	4
4. Stipe with a distinct pseudorhiza; taste bitter	*P. olympiana*
4. Not as above	5
5. Stipe slender (up to 3.5 mm thick)	6
5. Stipe thicker (3-15 mm thick)	9
6. Pileus dull reddish brown on disc, grayish brown over marginal area	*P. subgelatinosa*
6. Pileus ferruginous to ochraceous	7
7. Lamellae broad; subhymenium not gelatinous	*P. parvula*
7. Lamellae narrow; subhymenium gelatinous	8
8. Pileus with a prominent umbo; stipe lacking tawny mycelium around the base of the stipe	see *P. prolixa*
8. Pileus merely broadly convex; tawny mycelium present at stipe base	*P. pusilla*
9. Pileus disc distinctly rosy brownish	10
9. Pileus not colored as above	11
10. Lamellae narrow; stipe squamulose	see *P. angustifolia*
10. Lamellae broad; stipe merely fibrillose	*P. ornatula*
11. Odor of honey; pileus honey-yellow	*P. melliodora*
11. Not as above	12
12. Pileus white to pallid when young, typically yellowing as it matures or in one variant becoming avellaneous	13
12. Pileus more highly colored when young	14
13. Vesiculose-pedicellate pleurocystidia with bright ochraceous content present	*P. flavescens*
13. Chrysocystidia in hymenium fusoid-ventricose to clavate; no vesiculose-pedicellate cells present	*P. lutescens*
14. Lamellae narrow; pleurocystidia as typical chrysocystidia	*P. prolixa*
14. Lamellae broad	15
15. Pleurocystidia present as typical leptocystidia as to shape, but usually with an amorphous to granular content	*P. californica*
15. Pleurocystidia inconspicuous but typical of chrysocystidia; cheilocystidia resembling those of P. erinaceella	*P. contorta*

Key to Varieties of Pholiota lutescens

1. Grayish squamules over pileus rather conspicuous	*P. lutescens* var. *robusta*
1. Pileus glabrous or practically so	*P. lutescens* var. *lutescens*