Cortinarius hinnuleus

Description

Cortinarius hinnuleus is one of the many brown webcaps found under broadleaf trees. The identification of this undistinguished mushroom is eased somewhat by its habitat needs: damp woodlands with willow or poplar trees. It is found throughout much of mainland Europe and in parts of North America.

Common names: Earthy Webcap.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   2–7 cm in diameter, conical with the rounded top when young, later more flattened, but often with a central bump. The surface is orange-brown, with a whitish, fibrous margin. It is dry and generally smooth.

2. Gills

   Widely enough spaced so that you can see the sides of the gills from the bottom of the cap. Attached to the stem. The color starts as brownish-yellow and becomes darker with age. Gill edges are paler than the sides.

3. Stem

   3–12 cm long x 0.5–1.2 cm wide, cylindrical or widening at the base. Whitish remains of the veil cover the yellowish-brown surface. The stem base becomes darker brown with age.

4. Ring or Veil

   A spiderweb-like partial veil may remain on the upper stem. Abundant remains of the universal veil form a layer of whitish fibrils that clothe the cap margin and the lower part of the stem. As in several other webcap species, the universal veil, rather than the partial veil forms the whitish ring around the stem.

5. Spores

   7–9 x 5–7 µm, brown, with a warted surface.

6. Odor

   Earthly smell gives the species its common name.

7. Habitat

   On the ground, in small groups, or solitary, associated with hornbeam (Carpinus), birch (Betula) oak (Quercus) and other broad-leaved species in urban parks and along street boulevards; ectomycorrhizal.

8. Similar Species

   Cortinarius flexipes, the Pelargonium Waxcap, is distinguished by its strong odor of pelargoniums.

History

When in 1798 British naturalist James Sowerby (1757-1822) described the Earthy Webcap he gave it the binomial scientific name Agaricus hinnuleus. (Most gilled fungi were initially placed in a giant Agaricus genus, now redistributed across many other newer genera.) It was the great Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries who, in 1838, transferred this species to the genus Cortinarius, whereupon it assumed its currently-accepted scientific name Cortinarius hinnuleus.

Synonyms of Cortinarius hinnuleus include Agaricus hinnuleus Sowerby, Lepiota helvola Gray and Cortinarius hinnuleus var. radicata Rob. Henry.

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 fibers connecting the stem to the rim of the cap rather than a solid membrane.

The specific epithet hinnuleus means tawny-cinnamon colored (the color of a young hide or fawn).

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Chukchi (Chukchi) (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: Gerhard Koller (Gerhard) (CC BY-SA 3.0)