Pholiota polychroa

Description

Pholiota polychroa is large specimens that have scaly or slimy caps with an olive or pinkish color. Some species have smooth caps.

Few Pholiota species can be identified with certainty apart from the microscopic examination. This is true even of P. aurivella which can be indistinguishable macroscopically from P. limonella. In situations of confusion with Gymnopilus spp., Pholiota spores are smooth and an apical pore is evident.

Pholiota means scale, referring to scaley cap and stalk.

Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic; growing alone or gregariously on the deadwood of hardwoods (rarely on conifer wood); summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Great plains, but a little more common in the southeastern United States.

2. Cap

   2-10 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex, broadly bell-shaped, or nearly flat; sticky or slimy; cuticle peeling with ease; variable in color but usually mottled with shades of olive and pinkish-purple (sometimes almost completely one or the other color) when young, developing yellowish to orangish areas with maturity; at first with scattered veil remnants but often soon bald overall; the margin usually hung with veil remnants.

3. Gills

   Attached to the stem, often using a notch; close or crowded; whitish to yellowish or slightly purplish when young, becoming grayish brown to purplish brown; at first, covered by a partial veil.

4. Stem

   2-6 cm long; up to 1 cm thick; dry, or sticky near the base; silky near the apex, but often covered with scales or veil patches below; with a flimsy ring or ring zone; usually yellow to yellowish, but sometimes whitish, bluish, greenish, or brownish.

5. Flesh

   Whitish to yellow or greenish.

6. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

7. Chemical Reactions

   KOH greenish-yellow to green on cap (sometimes taking as much as 30 minutes to develop); iron salts slowly deep green on the cap.

8. Spore Print

   Brown to dark brown or slightly purplish brown.

9. Microscopic Features

   Spores 5.5-7.5 x 3.5-4.5 μm; smooth; ellipsoid; with a pore. Pleurocystidia fusoid-ventricose. Pileipellis an ixocutis. Clamp connections are present.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Bill Sheehan (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Bill Sheehan (B_Sheehan) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Bill Sheehan (CC BY-SA 4.0)