Cortinarius tessiae
Soop 2008
Description:
A small glutinous blue‑green Telamonia of Nothofagus forest, recognised by its viscous blue‑green to ochre cap, grey‑blue to grey‑olivaceous distant gills, and a very sparse ochre veil with a pale yellow fugacious cortina. The stipe is pale blue‑green to pale yellow with diffuse ochraceous fibrils, and the flesh is dilute blue‑green, often orange in the stipe base, with a distinct iodine‑like odour.

Pileus: 20-50 mm, viscous, hygrophanous; rounded then convex. Colour blue‑green mottled with yellow, later more ochraceous; sometimes egg‑yolk yellow even when young. Finely fibrillose‑innate; margin long greenish‑tinged.
Lamellae: Grey‑bluish to grey‑olivaceous at first; distant (L = 30-40, l = 2-3). Narrowly emarginate; edge concolorous.
Stipe: 50-70 x 4-9 mm, cylindrical to slightly clavate, slightly viscous. Colour pale blue‑green to pale yellow, with diffuse ochraceous fibrils and bands.
Veill: Ochraceous, very sparse; cortina pale yellow and fugacious.
Context: Dilute blue‑green, bruising ochraceous; often orange in the stipe base.
Odour/taste: Odour weak but distinctly iodine‑like; taste nil.

Common name: None
Habitat: Nothofagus 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 tessiae
Scale bar
Scale= 8 mm.
 
Cortinarius tessiae
Scale bar
Scale= 7 mm.
 
Cortinarius tessiae
Scale bar
Scale= 7.5 mm.
 
The Hidden Forest
Forest Fungi