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

Smith ~ Hesler

371

cap margin, "Reed's yellow" young, finally dingy clay-color, edges even.
Stipe 5-7 cm long, 5-8 mm thick, equal, hollow, when young "Reed's
yellow" over all and fibrillose from "Reed's yellow" veil remnants, apex
silky and "citron-yellow," gradually becoming "sepia" inside and out
from the base upward, cortex yellow, pith usually worm-eaten and tawny
in color. Veil yellow, arachnoid.
Spores 6.5-8 x 4-4.5 (9 x 5) p,, smooth, ochraceous tawny revived
in KOH, in Melzer's reagent pale cinnamon with a minute apical pore,
in face view elliptic varying to ovate, in profile subelliptic to obscurely
inequilateral; wall less than 0.3 /u thick and becoming appreciably
thicker in KOH.
Basidia 18-25 x 6-7 (8) /u, 4-spored, clavate, yellowish in KOH and
Melzer's reagent. Pleurocystidia abundant, 46-70 x 8-16 ju, broadly to
narrowly fusoid-ventricose varying to subfusoid, neck usually greatly
elongated and apex obtuse, walls thin and many cells remaining collapsed, smooth, content homogeneous and yellowish to hyaline in either
KOH or Melzer's reagent. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia but
usually shorter and more frequently varying to subfusoid to nearly
clavate and 30-45 x 8-12 /u, content homogeneous in KOH and Melzer's
sol., walls thin and smooth. Caulocystidia present as clavate end-cells
9-14 /u broad.
Gill trama of parallel to somewhat interwoven hyaline (in KOH)
to yellowish thin-walled, smooth non-gelatinous hyphae 3-8 iu diam.
with short (near pileus) to elongate hyphal cells; cells becoming somewhat inflated in age; subhymenium of gelatinous or subgelatinous narrow
(3-5 /u) hyaline smooth-walled hyphae in a zone intergrading with the
central strand. Pileus cutis a gelatinous layer of hyphae 2-5 /i diam., the
walls collapsing and disintegrating, in the process becoming crinkled and
often appearing ornamented with incrustations; hypodermium a layer of
interwoven hyphae dark orange-brown in KOH and of hyphae 5-12 /x
diam. with heavily incrusted walls. Context hyphae interwoven, walls
yellow in KOH and smooth, cells inflated to 15+ p,, inamyloid (yellow
in Melzer's reagent). Clamp connections present.
HABIT, HABITAT, AND DISTRIBUTION: Caespitose to gregarious around
conifer wood, Rhododendron, Oregon. Oct. 1, 1944. Smith 19315, type.
This species bears a strong resemblance to species of subg. Flammula
but is at once distinguished by its large pleurocystidia. It is a brighter
yellow than P. spumosa and the color is more persistent, in fact it is an
outstanding field character along with the sharply conic pileus. There is
a difference in spore color on spores revived in KOH also. In P. acutoconica they are near ochraceous tawny.
204. Pholiota lenta (Fr.) Singer.
Agaricus lentus Fries, Syst. Myc. 1: 253. 1821.
Flammula lenta (Fr.) Kummer, Der Fuhrer in die Pilzkunde, p. 82. 1871.
Flammula betulina Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 34: 100. 1907.