Cortinarius trivialis
Description
Cortinarius trivialis is the most widely distributed North American version of this slimy European Cortinarius. Fruiting bodies are seen in late summer, fall and even winter in warmer climates in North America. It forms a mycorrhizal relationship with some aspen species.
Some mycologists - notably Alexander Smith, for North American readers - consider Cortinarius trivialis to be a variety of Cortinarius collinitus that lacks purple shades in the slime veil.
Very young fruitbodies sometimes exhibit beautiful bluish or mauve tinges, which quickly disappear from the cap surface as it becomes brown, but the blue tinge usually remains on the gills until they become stained by ripe rusty-brown spores.
This mushroom may be toxic, however, it also contains a slimy veil which makes it quite unappealing.
Common names: Early Cortinarius.
It was reported as edible as recently as 1991, but European field guides consider it poisonous.
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Mycorrhizal with quaking aspen and other hardwoods; growing scattered or gregariously; summer and fall (or over-winter in coastal California); northern and western North America.
Cap
3-11 cm; bell-shaped or convex, becoming broadly bell-shaped; thickly slimy; bald; orangish brown to yellowish-brown.
Gills
Attached to the stem; close; pale clay or faintly lilac-colored at first, becoming brownish or rusty brown.
Stem
5-12 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; equal or tapering a little to the base; covered with clear or whitish slime when fresh; shaggy and "belted" or obscurely zoned with whitish to brownish scales, especially over the lower half; whitish above, orange-brown to brownish below; sometimes with a rusty ring zone.
Flesh
White, or brownish in the base of stem; sometimes bruising brownish.
Chemical Reactions
KOH negative to slightly grayish on cap surface.
Spore Print
Rusty brown.
Microscopic Features
Spores 10-15 x 5-8 µ; amygdaliform or subellipsoid; moderately to weakly verrucose. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia basidiole-like. Marginal cells present. Pileipellis an ixocutis with conspicuously clamped elements.
History
This striking webcap is a member of the Cortinarius sub-genus Myxacium, which contains species in which the caps, partial veils and stems are all viscid. The Girdled Webcap was described in 1940 by the Danish mycologist Jakob Emanuel Lange (1864 - 1941), who gave it the binomial name Cortinarius trivialis which remains its currently accepted scientific name.
Synonyms of Cortinarius trivialis include Myxacium collinitum var. repandum Ricken, and Cortinarius collinitus var. trivialis (J. E. Lange) A.H. Sm.
The generic name Cortinarius is a reference to the partial veil or cortina (meaning a curtain) that covers the gills when caps are immature. In the genus Cortinarius most species produce partial veils in the form of a fine web of radial fibres connecting the stem to the rim of the cap rather than a solid membrane.
Just as you might expect, the specific epithet trivialis means trivial. In this instance, it is used in the sense of commonplace or ordinary.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Archenzo (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 2 - Author: Thkgk (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 3 - Author: Thkgk (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Photo 4 - Author: zaca (CC BY-SA 3.0)
