Cortinarius ignotus
E. Horak 1990
Description:
This is a relatively common species found under tea trees. It’s bright yellow, with a glutinous cap and stipe.

Cap: Up to 50 mm diam.; at first hemispherical or conic with an incurved to inrolled margin, later broadly umbonate‑convex or umbonate‑expanded. Colour pale yellow‑ochre to golden brown, centre honey brown to date brown. Surface strongly glutinous, not hygrophanous; margin non‑striate; in dry conditions innately fibrillose.
Lamellae: Crowded (22-30, with ~15 full-length), emarginate and subdecurrent with a short tooth, up to 6 mm wide. Colour mustard yellow to ochre‑yellow, slowly becoming rust‑ochre brown; edges entire to slightly crenulate, concolorous.
Stipe: Up to 60 x 10 mm, fusoid (rarely cylindrical with a swollen base). Colour yellow, ochre, or golden yellow, especially beneath the thick glutinous coating on the lower stipe. Apex dry and fibrillose; below, a rudimentary cortina overlain by gluten; sometimes with yellow rhizoids. Initially solid, becoming hollow.
Context: yellow, especially beneath the pileipellis and cortex.
Odour/taste: strongly unpleasant‑pungent, sometimes sweet‑dusty. Taste mild.

Common name: None
Habitat: Myrtaceae forest
Substrate: On soil
Distribution: New Zealand wide.
Season: Autumn to early winter
Biostatus: Endemic to New Zealand.
Edible: No
Spore print: Rust brown
Macro images:
Cortinarius ignotus
Scale bar
Scale= 7 mm.
 
Cortinarius ignotus
Scale bar
Scale= 7 mm.
 
Cortinarius ignotus
Scale bar
Scale= 6 mm.
 
Cortinarius ignotus
Scale bar
Scale= 6 mm.
 
Cortinarius ignotus
Scale bar
PDD 94177    Scale= 10 mm.
 
The Hidden Forest
Forest Fungi