Cortinarius fulvescens – Facesoffungi number: FoF 02465

Cortinarius fulvescens Fr., Epicr. syst. mycol. (Upsaliae): 311 (1838)

Facesoffungi number: FoF02465

Neotype: T. Niskanen 04-935 (H)

Pileus 25–50 mm diam., conical to hemisphaerical, later low convex with an umbo, narrowly pellucid-striate, surface mat, red brown to vinaceous red brown, hygrophanous. Lamellae adnexed, subdistant, moderately broad, moderately thick, at first light medium brown, becoming cinnamon brown, edges remaining pale for some time, then concolorous. Stipe 50–120 mm long, apex 3–9 mm thick, equal, whitish silky-fibrillose. Universal veil pale pink, very sparse, forming incomplete girdles on the stipe. Basal mycelium white. Context in pileus dark red brown, in stipe medium yellow brown. Odor indistinct. Basidia 4-spored, 8–9 x 27–34 um, clavate. Basidiospores 7.9–9.5 x 4.5–5.2 um, Q = 1.64–1.90, narrowly amygdaloid to narrowly amygdaloid-ellipsoid, moderately, often somewhat sharply verrucose, slightly to moderately dextrinoid. Lamella trama hyphae moderately to fairly strongly encrusted in MLZ. Pileipellis duplex (in MLZ): Epicutis hyphae 4–13 um wide, smooth to encrusted. Hypoderm distinct, elements up to 30 x 65 um. Trama hyphae 4–13um wide, encrusted. ITS sequence (holotype) distinct from the other known members of the clade Fulvescentes/ Laeti, and differs from them in the ITS region by more than 14 substitutions and indel positions.

Ecology and distribution: In mesic to dry coniferous forests with Picea and/or Pinus and Tsuga. Known from eastern North America and Europe.

Material examined: CANADA, Que ´bec, Montebello, mixed forest, under Tsuga canadensis, 27 September 2010, leg. K. Liimatainen & T. Niskanen 10-153, 10-169 (H). FINLAND, Varsinais-Suomi, Lohja, dry Pinus sylvestris heath forest on sandy soil with lime dust effect, 19 September 2004, leg. I. Kyto ¨vuori & T. Niskanen 04-866/ H6030077 (H). Vihti, Sipila ¨nma ¨ki, Lintuma ¨ki, mesic Picea-dominated forest, 7 October 2001, leg. H. Tuovila & I. Kyto ¨vuori (H). Uusimaa, Kirkkonummi, submesic Picea abies dominated forest with some Betula and Populus tremula, in places herb-rich in others more Pinus dominated, 23 September 2004, leg. T. Niskanen 04-935, H6031281 (neotype, H; isoneotype, K). Uusimaa, Sipoo, Paippinen, dryish to mesic, mossy coniferous forest (Picea abies, Pinus sylvestris) with some Betula, 14 September 2004, leg. K. Liimatainen & T. Niskanen 04-792, H6029527 (H). Etela ¨-Ha ¨me, Orivesi, Pa ¨ilahti, Ojanpera ¨, mesic Picea abies forest with some Pinus sylvestris and deciduous bushes, 26 September 1995, leg. I. Kyto ¨vuori 95-1547 (H).

Notes: Cortinarius fulvescens is a medium-sized species and a typical member of traditional section Fulvescentes with mat, red-brown to vinaceous red-brown pileus, whitish silky-fibrillose stipe, pale pink universal veil, and uniformly yellow brown context in the stipe. It can be distinguished from most other species with pinkish to vinaceous veil by somewhat robuster appearance and the narrowly amygdaloid, somewhat more strongly verrusoce spores. The species was described by Fries (1838) and the short description fits well to our species, except the pale pinkish universal veil is not mentioned. This characteristics, however, is easy to miss since the veil is very sparse and sometimes invisible as e.g. in the basidiomata in the middle. Fries also has two unpublished plates of C. fulvescens (S0313 and S0314, available at the Krypto-S database in the Swedish Museum of Natural History, http:// andor.nrm.se/fmi/xsl/kryptos/kbo/publFindspecies.xsl?-view &-db=kbo_svampregister&-token.languagecode=en-GB), painted after the description of the species. They both represent typical species of traditional section Fulvescentes: the stature is slender, the colour of the pileus is brown to reddish-brown, flesh is brownish-yellow and they do not have any strong veil bands in the stipe. However, the two plates may represent two different species. The basidiomata presented in S0313 illustrate a species common to coniferous heath forests of Scandinavia. It also fits with the current interpretation of the species (Niskanen and Kyto ¨vuori 2012). We therefore propose specimen 04-935 as a neotype of the species.