Cortinarius verrucisporus
Mycologia 61: 533. 1969.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Calonarius verrucisporus (Thiers & A.H. Sm.)Niskanen (Thiers & A.H. Sm.) Liimat.
Cap up to 3.0-7.0 cm broad, convex, expanding to plano-convex; margin incurved, then decurved, often wavy; surface at first pallid to pale-buff with innate to appressed fibrils, these becoming yellowish to tawny in age, the disc then often dingy reddish-brown; context firm, cream-buff, unchanging, up to 1.0 cm at the disc; odor and taste mild.
Gills close, adnate to notched, broad, up to 1.0 cm wide, pallid in youth, becoming dull rusty-brown from maturing spores; lamellulae in 3-4 series.
Stipe 1.0-3.0 cm long, 1.0-2.0 cm thick, relatively short, equal to bulbous, if the latter, often marginate; surface covered by a yellowish, fibrillose, partial veil remaining attached to the cap margin at maturity; spores dull rusty-brown, liberated via radial tears in the partial veil.
Spores 11.0-13.0 x 7.0-8.5 µm, elliptical to ovate in face-view, inequilateral in profile, i.e. flattened on one side with an opposing belly, thick-walled, coarsely warted, hilar appendage inconspicuous; spores dull, rusty-brown in deposit.
Solitary to scattered, buried in duff of montane conifers; occasional during the spring; rare in the fall.
Unknown.
Fieldmarks of Cortinarius verrucisporus include a yellowish to tawny cap and a similarly colored, fibrillose veil that remains attached to the cap margin at maturity. Like its more common cousin, Cortinarius magnivelatus, it is often found well buried in montane conifer duff. See "Comments" under Cortinarius magnivelatus for related Cortinarii. Compare also with Cortinarius pinguis, a fall fruiting species. This secotioid relative has a dull yellow-brown to brown, sticky cap that is fused to the stipe at maturity and crumpled, deformed gills.
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 959 p.
Castellano, M.A., Smith, J.E., O'Dell, T., Cázares, E. & Nugent, S. (1999). Handbook to Strategy 1 Fungal Species in the Northwest Forest Plan. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station: Portland, OR. 195 p. (PDF)
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. (2024). Mushrooms of Cascadia: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of the Pacific Northwest. Backcountry Press: Keeland, CA. 576 p.
Siegel, N., Vellinga, E.C., Schwarz, C., Castellano, M.A. & Ikeda, D. (2019). A Field Guide to the Rare Fungi of California's National Forests. Bookmobile: Minneapolis, MN. 313 p. (PDF)
Thiers, H.D. & Smith, A.H. (1969). Hypogeous Cortinarii. Mycologia 61: 526-536.
(Protologue)
— note the brown gills seen through the broken cortina
