The North American species of Pholiota, by Alexander H. Smith and L. R. Hesler.

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The North American Species of Pholiota

Pileus about 17 mm broad, convex, subumbonate, strongly hygrophanous and almost subviscid, deeply sordid melleous when water-soaked,
fading to pale pinkish buff and then becoming more ochraceous ("pale
yellow-orange" to "light ochraceous-buff"), translucent-striate when moist.
Context subconcolorous, watery and fleshy in the pileus, somewhat
tougher in the stipe; odor none.
Lamellae adnexed to adnate, olive-fuscous at maturity, medium
broad (2-2.5 mm), moderately close.
Stipe about 2.3 cm long, 2 mm thick, blackish fuscous, darkening
from the base upward, nearly equal, tubular, base white-mycelioid, lower
portion thinly fibrillose, nearly glabrous above.
Spores deep honey-color under the microscope, 6.2-6.8 x 3-4.4,L,
in face view elliptic to ovate varying to subrhombic, in profile convex
on the ventral line (in optical section), wall smooth and double, apex
truncate.
Basidia 14-20 x 5.8-6.3,, 4-spored. Pleurocystidia none. Cheilocystidia 27-29 x 6-7 /z, ventricose below, ampullaceous above, the neck
2-4 /L thick, sometimes cylindric to subconic above, rather uniform in
size and distribution.
Gill trama of interwoven hyphae. Pileus cuticle gelatinous; hypodermium of brown-walled hyphae, not structurally differentiated. Clamp
connections present.
HABIT, HABITAT, AND DISTRIBUTION: Solitary on decaying mossy trunk
of hardwood tree, Florida, July. Singer F2992, type.
OBSERVATIONS: All the features of this species are typical of Psilocybe,
especially the cheilocystidia, spore size and shape, and color of the mature gills. Ordinarily we would have simply relegated it to the excluded
and doubtful category, but in view of what we now know about Pholiota
it can be recognized as a species in this genus. Since the collector considered it brown spored, we follow this lead pending positive proof that
this is wrong.
Section Hemipholiota
Pileus flesh moderately to very thick (1-2 cm as measured near the
stipe apex); pleurocystidia absent; spores not dextrinoid; stipe typically
10 mm or more thick at the base.
Key to Stirpes
1. Spore deposit olive-yellow ("Isabella color"); pileus with only scattered spotlike scales from the veil.................. Stirps Olivaceodisca
1. Not as above................................ 2
2. Gill margins white-crenulate; spores 10-15 X 5-7.5 /...................................................................................................... Stirps Albocrenulata