The North American Species of Pholiota
161. Pholiota calvini sp. nov.
Pileus 10-25 mm latus, viscidus, cinnamomeus, ad marginem fulvo squamulosus; lamellae pallidae demum fulvae, latae, confertae, adnatae; stipes 15-25 mm longus, 1-1.5 mm crassus, fibrillosus; sporae 6.5-8 x 4-4.5 µ; pleurocystidia 50-70 x 9-15 µ; subhymenium gelatinosum. Specimen typicum in Herb. Univ. Mich. conservatum est; legit prope Mt. Gretna, Penna. 15 Sept. 1924. C. H. Kauffman.
Pileus 10-25 mm broad, obtuse expanding to broadly convex or plane, at times with an obtuse umbo, viscid, "cinnamon" with appressed small darker ("russet") scales decorating the marginal area; context thin and pallid, odor and taste not distinctive.
Lamellae rather broad, broadly adnate, close to subdistant, pallid becoming dull tawny, edges entire.
Stipe 15-25 mm long, 1-1.5 mm thick, equal, straight or curved, at first peronate by a thin tawny fibrillosity terminating in an evanescent thin fibrillose ring.
Spores 6.5-8 x 4-4.5 µ smooth, apical pore hardly visible; shape in face view narrowly ovate to elliptic or oblong, in profile obscurely bean-shaped to obscurely inequilateral; color in KOH pale to medium dull cinnamon, in Melzer's reagent not much change (paler at first); wall about 0.25 µ thick.
Basidia 4-spored, 17-22 x 6-7.5 µ, clavate, yellow to hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia abundant, 50-70 x 9-15 µ, fusoid-ventricose, obtuse at apex, smooth or some debris adhering, content hyaline to yellow or orange-ochraceous revived in KOH, (hyaline fresh), walls thin. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia but small and with more orange content and more adhering debris.
Gill trama with a central area of non-gelatinous smooth, thin-walled parallel (±) hyphae with inflated cells and a gelatinous subhymenium of narrow (2-4 µ) hyphae hyaline in KOH. Pileus cutis of appressed hyphae 3-5 µ diam., incrusted with rusty brown zones, rings and spirals, scarcely gelatinous revived in KOH; hypodermium of more compactly interwoven hyphae 4-8 µ diam., and highly colored (orange-rusty) from incrustations and wall pigment. Context hyphae closely arranged, thin-walled, somewhat translucent in KOH (as if subgelatinous) and pale yellowish. Clamp connections present.
Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: On mossy soil among chips and woody debris, Mt. Gretna, Penna. Sept. 15, 1924. C. H. Kauffman, type.
Observations: In stature this species is not too unlike P. scamba and the possible relationship is enhanced by the thin fibrillose veil. It differs from P. scamba in smaller spores, longer cystidia and a more cinnamon colored pileus with darker squamules of velar material decorating the cap surface near the margin. It is named in honor of its finder, Dr. C. H. Kauffman.