Pholiota carbonaria

Formerly known as Pholiota highlandensis, growing on campfire sites and burnt woody ground, with a convex to flattened pileus 3 to 5 cm in diameter, smooth surface, orange-brown, adnate yellowish-brown lamellae, a cylindrical stipe with brownish fibrillose squamules over a pale yellow background, a fungal odour, and a sweetish, somewhat astringent taste.

Pileipellis composed of filamentous hyphae arranged more or less parallel, 3 to 10 µm wide, the superficial ones gelatinized and widely separated, with abundant encrusting brown intracellular pigment, septate and partly clamped.

Cheilocystidia fusiform, ventricose, slightly thick-walled, 30 to 55 µm long and 8 to 14 µm wide.

Pleurocystidia fusiform to lageniform, large, 50 to 80 µm long and 12 to 16 µm wide.

Basidia cylindrical to slightly clavate, 20 to 25 µm long, 6 to 8 µm wide, clamped at the base, 4-spored.

Spores ellipsoidal, thick- and smooth-walled, pale yellow under the microscope, 6 to 8 µm long, 4 to 5 µm wide, with an eccentric apiculus at one end, a central germ pore at the opposite pole, non-reactive in Melzer's reagent.

Herbarium material available: JTP2300/24.