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

Smith ~ Hesler

171

Key
1. Taste distinctly bitter in fresh basidiocarps............... P. alnicola
1. Taste mild to nutty or fungoid....................................... 2
2. Caulocystidia 30-80 (100) x 4-7 /,, subsetiform... P. abieticola
2. Caulocystidia not as above........................................3
3. Stipe with a thin coating of thick-walled hyphae....... P. subvelutina
3. N ot as above........................................4
4. Spores 6-9 (10) x 4-5...................................... 5
4. Spores 8-11 (12) x 4.5-5.5 /i......................................... 7
5. Odor heavy (as in some fats)....................... P. flavida var. graveolens
5. Odor none to slightly fragrant................................................................6
6. Lamellae distant; hyphae of gill trama and pileus context orangered in M elzer's reagent................................................. P. oregonensis
6. Lamellae close; hyphae of gill and pileus trama not as above (see
(P. aurantiflava also).................................... P. flavida var. flavida
7. Odor of freshly husked green corn; growing on wood of conifers..............................................P. malicola var. macropoda
7. Odor and taste not distinctive; on wood of hardwoods................................................................................................ P. malicola var. malicola
86. Pholiota alnicola (Fr.) Singer, Lilloa 22: 516. 1951.
Agaricus alnicola Fries, Syst. Myc. 1: 250. 1821.
Dryophila alnicola (Fr.) Quelet, Enchir. Fung., p. 71. 1886.
Flammula alnicola (Fr.) Kummer, Der Fuhrer in die Pilzkunde, p. 82.
1871.
Gymnopilus alnicola (Fr.) Murrill, North Amer. Flora 10: 202. 1917.
Illustrations: Text figs. 177-178.
Pileus 3-6 cm broad, convex then expanding, at times umbonate,
caespitose or fasciculate, not hygrophanous, at first yellow, becoming
deeper yellow or ferruginous in age, at times with a flush of olive-green
toward the margin, disc at times reddish yellow (Moser), viscid, lubricous, sometimes merely moist, marginal portion fibrillose-subscaly, or
appendiculate, glabrescent. Context pale yellow, thick on the disc; odor
mild or fragrant to aromatic, taste bitter.
Lamellae adnate or slightly rounded behind, at first pallid or pale
straw-yellow, finally ferruginous to "ochraceous-tawny," broad, close.
Stipe 4-8 (12) cm long, 4-12 mm thick, pale yellow above yellowish
becoming brownish from the base up, flexuous, stuffed then hollow, fibrillose. Veil pallid or whitish, evanescent.
Spores 8-10 X 4-5.5 p. smooth, apical pore present but inconspicuous;
shape in face view subcymbiform to ovate or more rarely elliptic, in profile more or less inequilateral with a broad suprahilar depression, in KOH
dark dull cinnamon, in Melzer's more rusty-cinnamon (darker and redder), wall about 0.3,u thick.