Pholiota highlandensis

Description

Pholiota highlandensis has a moist yellow-brown to cinnamon-brown cap with a smooth brim and narrow to broad gills that are pale or yellow-brown to yellow-brown except for white to yellowish (rarely reddish-brown) remnants, which become cinnamon-brown. White to yellowish stems, dark tan in the upper part, pale yellow in the lower part, then dark brown, the stem surface may be filamentous fibrous or scattered with fibrils, or sometimes with small fibrils. Scales, which may be light brown or less commonly reddish-brown, grow on charred soil or wood, with cinnamon-brown spore deposits and microscopic features. Matheny presented molecular evidence for two other A.H.s. Sm. & Hesler species, Pholiota carbonaria and Pholiota fulvozonata are synonyms.

It's fairly widespread, and can certainly be found in Canada and the United States.

Common names: Bonfire Scaly-Cap.

Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic; growing in clusters at the bases of charred trees, from burned wood, or on the ground in burned areas; spring through fall (also in winter in California); widely distributed in North America.

2. Cap

   2-6 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; thickly slimy when fresh; sometimes with small pale partial veil remnants near the margin; smooth; reddish brown to orange or orange-brown with a paler margin, fading markedly to pale pinkish brown.

3. Gills

   Attached to the stem; close; whitish or yellowish at first, but eventually cinnamon brown; at first covered by a pale partial veil that may be covered with slime.

4. Stem

   3-10 cm long; usually under 1 cm thick; white or yellowish near the apex; sheathed below the apex with scaly zones or patches of pale yellowish to buff-colored material; usually with a ring zone; whitish, yellowish, or very pale tan, becoming darker towards the base.

5. Flesh

   Pale yellow.

6. Odor and Taste

   Odor is not distinctive; taste mild or unpleasant (radishlike in my collections).

7. Chemical Reactions

   In my collections, KOH turned the cap surface purple.

8. Spore Print

   Cinnamon brown.

9. Microscopic Features

   Spores 6-8 x 4-4.5 µ; smooth; more or less elliptical; with a tiny apical pore; pale brownish in Melzer's. Pleurocystidia fusoid-ventricose; thin-walled; brownish in KOH; up to 70 X 15 µ. Caulocystidia fusoid-ventricose, clavate, or merely cylindric; up to 90 X 15 µ; not aggregated into bundles. Clamp connections present.

Synonyms

1. Flammula highlandensis (Peck) Peck, 1897

2. Gymnopilus highlandensis (Peck) Murrill, 1917

3. Pholiota highlandensis (Peck) Singer, 1952

4. Flammula carbonaria var. gigantea J.E. Lange, 1940

5. Pholiota luteobadia A.H. Sm. & Hesler, 1968

6. Pholiota carbonaria (Fr.) Singer, 1951

7. Flammula carbonaria (Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871

8. Inocybe carbonaria (Fr.) Roze, 1876

9. Gymnopilus carbonarius (Fr.) Murrill, 1912

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: jacilluch (CC BY-SA 2.0)