Public Note:
[McNabb:] 208 (Holotype), 207. PILEUS: 10 cm diam., glabrous, innately subpruinose under lens, viscid, no velar remnants, brownish grey, greyish brown etc., margins thick, entire, non pectinate, rather strongly involute. GILLS: rather thick, crowded, simple, dull creamy white, becoming heavily spotted black, to 7 mm deep, lamellulae numerous, in up to 3 unequal series, in sequence. STIPE: 5 cm long, stout, 2.5 cm diam., solid, brownish grey apically, more brownish grey towards base, finely subvelutinate under lens, flesh rather firm and granular, white (badly eaten) turning brown and finally black when exposed. CONTEXT OF PILEUS: white, blackening rather rapidly. TASTE: gills extremely acrid, context not tasted. CHEMICAL CHARACTERS: FeS04 on context - greyish green; NH4OH on pileus and context - n. r. KOH on pileus - n. r. or slight darkening; on context — yellowish. HABITAT: Solitary under Nothofagus menziesil, Nelson: Karamea, Umere, 14.1.70 Coll. A.Y. McNabb. Cuticle 200-250um thick, composed of interwoven, +- obliquely ascending hyphae embedded in a gelatinous matric. Hyphae hyaline, thin-walled, septate, branched, 2-4.5um diam., with very dark brown contents particularly towards base of cuticle; pilocystidia embedded and not projecting from surface, +- cylindrical with acuminate and strangulate apices, 5um diam., contents refractive in KOH. Cuticle of stipe similar to that of pileus but not gelatinised, composed of +- repent interwoven, thin-walled hyphae with dark brown contents in places, 2-4.5um diam., forming a rough palisade. A few caulocystidia like structures embedded in the cuticle but not projecting or even reaching the surface. Spores broadly elliptical, obliquely apiculate, apiculus to um long, 7.3 – 8.8 x 6.3 – 7.7um. Ornamentation of fine amyloid verrucae to 0.5um high, joined by very fine amyloid ridges and forming an almost complete reticulum. Hymnophoral trama interwoven with dark brown oleiferous hyphae. Pleurocystidia scattered, relatively numerous, projecting up to 20um beyond hymenium, apices capitulate or strangulate, +- narrowly fusiform, with dark brown +- granular contents, thin-walled, tinted yellowish, 65-98 x 5.6-8um. Basidia tinted, clavate, 4-spored, sterigmata to 6um long, 47-60 x 9.1 – 11.2um. Cheilocystidia present similar to pleurocystidia but shorter [Ridley:] Basidispores 7-8 x 6.25 - 7.25 um, [7.5-9 x 6.58 um] Qm, 1.13, broadly ellipsoid, Q 1.07-1.28, subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, hyaline. Ornamented with moderately dense, obtuse to acute, amyloid verrucae, and occasional crest to 0.75 um, joined by very low, fine, amyloid to inamyloid ridges, forming a partial to almost complete reticulum. Suprahilar plage inconspicuous, smooth, inamyloid. Hilar appendix obconical, oblique, to 2 um long. (Fig. 25f). In this species the plage was poorly defined, and could only just be determined in SEM. The ridges formed an extensive reticulum of type IIB to IIIA. [Cooper:] McNabb did not describe the micro details of this taxon in his diaries. Cap with brown terminal elements in KOH, DCY SV-ve (but staying brown. Current description says SV+. Fuchsinophile hyphae not seen. Cystidia too difficult to observe. Spores without amyloid spot. With plage. length=6.9–8.4µm (µ=7.6, σ=0.5), width=6.1–7.4µm (µ=6.6, σ=0.3), Q=1.0–1.3µm (µ=1.2, σ=0.1), n=20. We disagree with Ridley on visibility of plage. McNabb's notes on the type indicate lamellulae are numerous, and in a series. They are visible on the dried collection.