Cortinarius armeniacus

What You Should Know

Cortinarius armeniacus is a apricot-colored agaric. It can be recognized by the smooth to shiny, hygrophanous yellow to chestnut-brown cap with white margin, firm whitish-drab stipe and convex cap with a low umbo.

Cortinarius armeniacus Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   35-55 mm diam., convex to broadly convex with flattened umbo, margin long inrolled, and sometimes undulating or folded, margin fine. Hygrophanous, yellow-brown, apricot, chestnut-brown, margin a distinct white line. Surface glabrous, slightly shiny, generally dry to tacky.

2. Gills

   Adnexed, crowded to medium spaced, light yellow-brown to cinnamon-brown.

3. Stem

   45-55 mm long, 8-10 mm thick at apex, equal to clavate. White to buff, fibrillose, vertically streaked with whitish veil material, which is removed when handled.

4. Veil

   White, cortina sparse.

5. Flesh

   Firm, white, mottled white, lilac and buff when moist, pale lilac tones in stipe apex, buff to yellow-brown cap context.

6. Ecology

   Scattered to clustered in a conifer forest with Pseudotsuga, Tsuga, Abies sp. and Larix. Found fruiting in the fall.

Cortinarius armeniacus Taxonomy

The binomial name was determined as Agaricus armeniacusus by the famous German scholar Jacob Christian Schäffer, in volume 4 of his great work Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur Icones, nativis coloribus expressae from 1774.

Then, in 1838, the renowned Swedish scientist Elias Magnus Fries transferred the species to the genus Cortinarius under the preservation of the epithet, to be verified in his book Epicrisis systematis mycologici, seu synopsis hymenomycetum, being the valid current name (2022).

Obligatory taxa are Agaricus castaneus by the German mycologist August Batsch in 1783 and Hydrocybe armeniaca by his compatriot Friedrich Otto Wünsche in 1877, the latter based on Schäffer's description.

All other renaming attempts are also accepted but can be neglected, not being used, except for the variation (see infobox).

The specific epithet is derived from the Latin adjective (la|armeniacus=armenian), referring to the Armenian plateau. The reason for this name cannot be determined.

Cortinarius armeniacus Synonyms

1. Agaricus armeniacus Schaeff. (1774)

2. Agaricus castaneus Batsch (1783)

3. Agaricus badius Schumach. (1803)

4. Hydrocybe armeniaca (Schaeff.) Wünsche (1877)

5. Gomphos armeniacus (Schaeff.) O.Kuntze (1891)

6. Cortinarius privignorum Rob.Henry (1948)

7. Hydrocybe privignorum (Rob.Henry) M.M.Moser (1953)

8. Cortinarius privignorum Rob.Henry (1985)

9. Cortinarius armeniacus var. badius Soop (1993)

10. Cortinarius hydrobivelus Rob.Henry & Reumaux (2010)

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Tatiana Bulyonkova from Novosibirsk, Russia (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

Photo 2 - Author: Gerhard Koller (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 3 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)

Photo 4 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)