Cortinarius species
“Nothofagus-brown-smooth”
Description:
A medium‑sized brown, smooth‑capped Phlegmacium from Nothofagus forest, recognised by its viscid warm‑brown pileus, stout pale stipe with a weakly bulbous base, and white fibrillose veil remnants on the upper stipe. Flesh white and firm, stipe surface faintly fibrillose, and cap often darker at the disc. Occurs solitary to gregarious, rare, and confirmed by sequencing as an undescribed taxon.

Pileus: 40-65 mm diam., convex to broadly convex, sometimes slightly flattened with age. Surface smooth, glabrous, distinctly viscid in moist conditions; debris often adherent. Colour warm brown to chestnut‑brown, typically darker at the disc, paler toward the margin. Margin even, not striate, sometimes slightly inrolled in young basidiomes. No evident hygrophanous zoning.
Lamellae: : Adnate to adnexed, moderately spaced. Pale to medium white, brown at maturity.
Stipe: 40-60 x 12-20 mm, stout, cylindrical to slightly clavate, sometimes with a weakly marginate or rounded bulb. Whitish to pale cream, often with brownish fibrils or soil staining near the base. Surface dry to slightly viscid, with faint longitudinal fibrils. Flesh firm, white, unchanging.
Veil: White, fibrillose, forming scattered patches or zones on the upper stipe. No cortina visible in any specimen - consistent with a Phlegmacium.
Context: White to pale cream, firm, unchanging.
Odour/taste: Not recorded

Common name: None
Habitat: Nothofagus forest
Substrate: On soil, solitary to gregarious
Distribution: Auckland
Season: Autumn to early winter
Biostatus: Endemic to New Zealand
Edible: No
Spore print: Brown
Macro images:
Cortinarius species
Scale bar
PDD 104141    Scale= 9 mm.
 
Cortinarius species
Scale bar
PDD 104141    Scale= 13 mm.
 
Cortinarius species
Scale bar
PDD 104141    Scale= 10 mm.
 
Cortinarius species
Scale bar
PDD 104141    Scale= 11 mm.
 
Cortinarius species
Scale bar
PDD 104141    Scale= 9 mm.
 
Hidden Forest
Forest Fungi