Cortinarius caperatus
Epicrisis: 256. 1838.
Common Name: The Gypsy
Synonyms: Rozites caperatus (Persoon: Fries) P. Karst.; Pholiota caperata (Pers.) Gillet
For description see Smith, Knudsen & Vesterholt (2008), Siegel & Schwarz, and 'California Mushrooms'.
Scattered to gregarious in soil in conifer forests or mixed hardwood conifer forests; common, fruiting in fall in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges, and along the coast from Mendocino Co. northward.
Edible and excellent.
Cortinarius caperatus is the only species in the genus commonly collected for the table. It is distinctive by a creamy brown cap with a hoary sheen when young, cream-colored young gills producing rusty brown spores, and a nearly white stipe with a persistent, membranous annulus. It was once accepted in the segregate genus Rozites because of a membranous annulus rather than a cobwebby cortina seen in other Cortinarius species, but molecular evidence places it in the genus Cortinarius.
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 959 p.
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Knudsen, H. & Vesterholt, J. ed. (2008). Funga Nordica: Agaricoid, boletoid and cyphelloid genera. Nordsvamp: Copenhagen, Denmark. 965 p. (PDF)
Knudsen, H. & Vesterholt, J. ed. (2012). Funga Nordica: Agaricoid, boletoid, clavarioid, cyphelloid and gastroid genera. Vol. 2. Nordsvamp: Copenhagen, Denmark. 572 p.
Kuyper, T.W., Nuytinck, J., Noordeloos, M.E. & Vellinga, E.C. (2024). Flora Agaricina Neerlandica -- Critical monographs on the families of agarics and boleti occurring in the Netherlands and Flanders. Volume 8. Cortinarious. Candusso Editrice: Origgio, Italy. 844 p.
Peinter, U., Horak, E., Moser, M. & Vilgalys, R. (2002). Phylogeny of Rozites, Cuphocybe and Rapacea inferred from ITS and LSU rDNA sequences. Mycologia 94(4): 620-629.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2024). Mushrooms of Cascadia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of the Pacific Northwest. Backcountry Press: Keeland, CA. 576 p.
Smith, A.H. (1949). Mushrooms in their Natural Habitats. Sawyer's Inc: Portland, OR. 626p. (PDF)
Watling, R., Gregory, N.M. & Orton, P.D. (1993). British Fungus Flora: Agarics and Boleti. Vol 7. Cortinariaceae p.p.: Galerina, Gymnopilus, Leucocortinarius, Phaeocollybia, Phaeogalera, Phaeolepiota, Phaeomarasmius, Pleuroflammula, Rozites & Stagnicola. Royal Botanic Garden: Edinburgh, Scotland. 131 p.
