Phaeocollvbia kauffmanii Smith Cap 8-25cm across, obtusely conic expanding to broadly umbonate or nearly flat, with an inrolled margin that never fully expands; orangy brown or rusty red fading to reddish orange; smooth, very slimy becoming merely sticky, subhygrophanous. Gills free or slightly adnexed, crowded, narrow becoming broad; dirty cream becoming dirty orangish brown. Stem 20-40 x 15-35mm, stuffed, tapering downward to a long root-like base; flesh-pink above, rusty, purplish brown below, becoming darker in age; smooth with a thick, cartilaginous rind. Flesh thick, firm, with a cartilaginous rind near the surface, moist; red-brown. Odor mealy when flesh is crushed. Taste slightly mealy. Spores ellipsoid, almond-shaped, roughened, 8-8.5 x 5-5.5µ. Deposit rusty brown. Habitat scattered or in groups under conifers. Found in the Pacific Northwest. Season August-October. Not edible. Comment This is a remarkable mushroom because of its large size and the depth to which the stem may extend. |