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

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The North American Species of Pholiota

sus, sursum albidus, deorsurm sordidus, fibrillosus. Sporae 5.5-7(7.5) X
3.5-4 't. Chrysocystidia rara 22-30 x 5-8 ut. Caulocystidia versiformia.
Specimen typicum in Herb. Univ. of Tenn. conservatum est; legit prope
Gatlinburg, Tenn., 8 Nov. 1942. Hesler 13094.
Pileus 1-4 cm broad, convex, expanding broadly convex or nearly
plane, at first whitish, becoming "ochraceous-buff" to "old-gold" or "oliveochre," margin paler, appressed-fibrillose, fibrils brown, viscid, margin
even. Context thin, thick on the disc, white; odor and taste mild.
Lamellae adnexed or subdecurrent, at first pale yellow, finally "claycolor" or darker, close, medium broad, edges even.
Stipe 2-4 cm long, 2.5-4 (8) mm thick, at times compressed, white
above, dingy below, fibrillose, fibrils sometimes forming minute scales
downward, dry, solid, equal. Veil arachnoid, white, leaving only a slight
fugaceous ring.
Spore deposit dark yellow-brown ("Dresden-brown" to "snuffbrown") spores 5.5-7 (7.5) x 3.5-4 u; ovate to elliptic in face view,
obscurely inequilateral to elliptic in profile; wall about 0.2 pu thick, pale
ochraceous tawny in KOH, in Melzer's about the same color, apex obscurely truncate in many.
Basidia 20-24 (27) x 5-6 F,, 4-spored, clavate, hyaline to yellowish in
KOH, yellowish in Melzer's reagent. Pleurocystidia scattered to rare; 1)
chrysocystidia 22-30 X 5-8 u, fusoid, fusoid-ventricose to more or less
fusoid or clavate-mucronate, with a highly refractive body of amorphous
material in the lower part as revived in KOH, walls smooth thin and
hyaline; 2) vesiculose-pedicellate cells 23-32 x 8-12 p,, content rich
ochraceous in KOH and filling the cells, pedicel narrow. Cheilocystidia
22-33 (56) x 4-5 (8) p,, subcylindric, subclavate, or fusoid-ventricose to
tibiiform, smooth, thin-walled, hyaline to yellowish in KOH. Caulocystidia (23) 36-54 X 5-14 (20) /., clavate to irregular, fusoid-ventricose
vesiculose, clavate-mucronate, etc., but none seen with a refractive amorphous body, thin-walled.
Gill trama of floccose hyaline to yellowish hyphae red-brown in
Melzer's reagent, thin-walled, cells short to elongated and smooth; subhymenium a gelatinous, thin layer of narrow (2-3.5) pu hyaline, smooth
hyphae subparallel in arrangement. Pileus cutis a gelatinous pellicle of
appressed hyphae 2.5-3.5 Lu wide, ochraceous in KOH, smooth or nearly
so; hypodermial zone not differentiated. Context hyphae smooth, thinwalled becoming slightly thick-walled, cells becoming inflated, inamyloid.
Clamp connections present.
HABIT, HABITAT, AND DISTRIBUTION: On soil, sometimes near sawdust
and chips, Gatlinburg, Tenn. Nov. 8, 1942.
OBSERVATIONS: The chrysocystidia are imbedded in the hymenium
and are best spotted in revived mounts by the refractive inclusion. In
fresh material they are very difficult to spot. The vesiculose bodies are
rare in the type but easily located because of their large diameter and