Hygrophorus gliocyclus
Monogr. Hymen. Suec. 2: 311. 1863.
Common Name: none
Cap 3-9 cm broad, convex, becoming plano-convex to centrally depressed in age, occasionally with a broad, low umbo; margin at first inrolled, then decurved, to plane; surface glabrous, glutinous when moist, appearing varnished when dry, cream to cream-yellow, the disc usually slightly darker; context white, unchanging, soft, thick at the disc, thin at the margin; odor and taste not distinctive.
Gills when young, adnate to subdecurrent, decurrent in age, subdistant, thick, waxy, sometimes intervenose, colored like the cap, i.e. cream-yellow; lamellulae 2-3 seried.
Stipe 3.0-5.0 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm thick, equal to subventricose; surface at apex whitish, minutely scaly to fibrillose, lower portion cream-yellow, covered with slime; partial veil glutinous leaving a superior, evanescent, slimy ring.
Spores 8.5-10 x 4.5-6.0 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, inamyloid; spore print white.
Scattered to gregarious under conifers; fruiting from mid to late winter.
Edible, but maybe too slimy to be of value.
Fieldmarks of this robust Hygrophorous include a slimy, cream-yellow cap and stipe, well-spaced decurrent gills and a glutinous ring (when fresh). Another commonly found, viscid Hygrophorous species is H. eburneus. It has a more slender aspect and is distinguished by its white color and lack of an annulus.
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 959 p.
Bas, C., Kyper, T.W., Noordeloos, M.E. & Vellinga, E.C. (1990). Flora Agaricina Neerlandica—Critical monographs on the families of agarics and boleti occuring in the Netherlands. Volume 2. Pluteaceae, Tricholomataceae. A. A. Balkema: Rotterdam, Netherlands. 137 p.
Bird, C.J. & Grund, D.W. (1979). Nova Scotian Species of Hygrophorus. The Nova Scotia Museum: Nova Scotia. 131 p.
Breitenbach, J. & Kränzlin, F. (1991). Fungi of Switzerland. Volume 3: Boletes and Agarics (1st Part). Strobilomycetaceae, Boletaceae, Paxillaceae, Gomphidiaceae, Hygrophoraceae, Tricholomataceae, Polyporaceae (lamellate). Verlag Mykologia: Luzern, Switzerland. 361 p
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Hesler, L.R. & Smith, A.H. (1963). North American Species of Hygrophorus. University of Tennessee Press: Knoxville, TN. 416 p. (PDF)
Largent, D.L. (1985). The Agaricales (Gilled Fungi) of California. 5. Hygrophoraceae. Mad River Press: Eureka, CA. 208 p.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Stuntz, D.E. & Isaacs, B.F. (1962). Pacific Northwestern fungi. I. Mycologia 54(3): 272-298.
