Cortinarius vinaceobrunneus – Facesoffungi number: FoF 02043

Cortinarius vinaceobrunneus Ammirati, Beug, Liimat., Niskanen & O. Ceska

Index Fungorum number: IF 551707 Facesoffungi number: FoF 02043

Etymology: Named for the colour of the pileus and stipe.

Holotype: Joseph Ammirati JFA13301 (WTU)

Pileus 47–60 mm diam., obtusely rounded to obtuse up lifted, with slight umbo at times, margin in curved to straight but often folded and irregular, opaque, edge whitish fibrillose from veil, colour evenly deep vinaceous brown with a pale sheen from thin layer of silky fibrils, hygrophanous. Lamellae deeply adnexed, intervenose, close to subdistant, thick, deep rich brown with paler brown edges, light medium brown viewed from edges, edges uneven. Stipe 82–100 mm long, apex 10–14 mm thick, tapered below, deeply inserted in soil, shiny, silky streaky, dull watery light vinaceous brown ground colour. Universal veil white, sparse, forming a few surface fibrils on stipe, no zones. Basal mycelium white, sparse. Context watery brown in cortex (rather thick and tough), interior of stipe pale brownish white, dark watery brown in pileus cuticle, flesh thin, brownish white above stipe apex. Odour pleasant, like parsley. Taste mild. Macrochemical reaction (40 % KOH): not recorded. Exsiccatae: pileus blackish with slight purplish cast, lamellae rich brown or a few blackish, stipe blackish or with some pallid greyish or brownish areas, context is a light bright cinnamon brown. Basidia 4-spored, 8.1–8.5× 28–35μm, clavate, hyaline to light brown in KOH. Basidiospores 8.1–9.6×4.8–5.9μm (20 spores, holotype specimens), ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid or somewhat amygdaloid, distinct, ± curved apiculus, moderately to coarsely verrucose, slightly to moderately (a few darker) dextrinoid. Lamella trama hyphae hyaline to brown, walls yellow refractive, some encrusted (not heavily so) in KOH. Pileipellis in KOH: Surface layer of±cylindrical hyphae, 3–11μm wide, hyaline or yellowish, wall refractive, some encrusted; subtending layer of±cylindrical to enlarged hyphae 7–26μm wide, colourless to yellowish or slightly brownish, walls yellow refractive, some encrusted. Beneath a somewhat darker brown layer of cylindrical to enlarged hyphae, mostly 8– 22μm wide, hyaline or with brown pigments, grading into trama hyphae; hyaline to dark brown lactiferous hyphae scattered throughout trama. ITS sequence distinct from other species of Cortinarius subgenus Telamonia and deviating from them by more than 15 substitutions and indel positions in the ITS region.

Ecology and distribution: With Quercus garryana. Producing basidiomata in late autumn. Known from British
Columbia, Canada and Washington USA, Western North America.

Material examined: CANADA, British Columbia, Elkington property Reserve, Duncan, 48.805° N, 123.622° W, Quercus garryana stand, 25 Nov 2001, leg. Oluna Ceska OC78, F17150 (UBC). USA, Washington, Klickitat County, Balch Farm, 45°42.896 N,121°18.939 W, Quercus garryana, 2 Nov 2008, leg. Joseph Ammirati JFA13301 (holotype, WTU), (isotype, K(M): 200667).

Notes: Cortinarius vinaceobrunneus is a small to medium sized species of subgenus Telamonia. From many other similar looking species it can be distinguished by the combination of vinaceous brown pileus, silky white rooting stipe almost without veil remnants, and the parsley-like smell in lamellae. The exact phylogenetic position of the species is not known, but in our analysis it is grouped in the same large clade with section Hinnulei and many small Telamonias.