Sierra Nevada, Oct. 2006

Sierra Nevada, October 2006 -- The Interesting Taxa.

Russula emetica v. sylvestris (Sierra Nevada, 8,000 ft.) R. emetica is listed as not known from California, but this collection fits the original description quite well, down to the exact habitat. R. silvicola is mentioned as the locally misapplied name for R. emetica, but I am familiar with the former and this is certainly not it.

Spores with isolated warts (up to 1.3μ) and very few, if any connectives

Pileipellis and septate pileocystidia

Basidia and cheilocystidia

Suillus brunnescens Listed as uncommon.

Boletus mottii [?] Seems to match Thiers' description quite well, but the few photos I've seen are not too convincing.

Lactarius alpinus var. mitis (Sierra Nevada) In a seepage area by a river stream (5,000 ft) under Alnus rhombifolia and Cascara. Taste: mild. Milk: white. Spores with broken to partial network, <= 0.5µ This species matches the European description of L. alpnius as well.

Hygrophorus discoideus var. californicus (Sierra Nevada, 7,000-8,5000 ft) The pileus certainly looks like H. discoideus, while the yellow color of the underside is more H. hypothejus like. The spores of the two are indistinguishable as published and during my investigation with only slight variation in the average Q ratio. The originally described H. discoideus var. discoideus (locally and in Europe) has significantly smaller spores. Probably this is one is better described as H. hypothejus var. californicus...

Hygrophorus hypothejus (Sierra Nevada, 7,000-8,5000 ft) Consistent with the Worldwide descriptions of this species. The latiferous hyphae in the gill context described in 'Agaricales of CA' must be rare, because I saw only one structure reminiscent of them in a couple of tries. I do not think I've seen a reference to them in the European literature.

Cortinarius griseoviolaceus (A.H. Smith) The conifer forest variation of the commonly pictured C. alboviolaceus.

Cortinarius mucosus (Myxacium/Colliniti)

Cortinarius casimiri s.l. Picking and choosing between the small brownish, hygrophanous Telamonia, even with a microscopic analysis can be pretty hard. Plus, there are competing descriptions all over the place. Fungi of Switzerland has this one as C. rufostriatus, but Brandrud treats it as a synonym of C. casimiri.

Cortinarius herpeticus. Spores; 9-11.5 x 6-7.5, strongly verrucose.

Cortinarius sp. Probably undescribed. Spores: 8-10 x 5-6 μ.

Rozites caperatus

Boletus haematinus Huge specimens.

Ramaria sp. Probably R. maculatipes

Xeromphalina cauticinalis

Inocybe oblectabilis (=piceae) (California, Sierra Nevada) Spores: coarsely nodulose 9-12 x 6.5-8μ. Caulocystidia: clusters present along the entire stipe: