Brown felty Tricholoma?

[AAK]

Hi all. Found mid October in Hampshire in mixed woodland beside a path. Cap was 7cm in diameter, light tan in colour with a felty texture. Cap was flat/depressed with shallow umbo. Gills are sinuate, crowded and buff in colour. They were reasonably fragile. Stipe was fibrous 6cm long 1 cm in diameter, concolourous with cap and gills and had a yellowish tinge.

Spore print was white with oval shaped spores with a few distinctly curved. They measured 9.5 um – 5.5 um on average.

Have looked at the Tricholoma family without any joy and was hoping for suggestions

[adampembs]

Clearly a brown spored species, so not a Tricholoma (its a genus not a family)

Always start with spore colour.

I think it might be a Cortinarius. Were the spores rough? (Verrucose)

[adampembs]

Hmm, Im confused. You say the spore print was white, but the spore photo is of coloured spores. Was this in water?

Were the spores smooth or rough (verrucose)?

I’m fairly confident its a brown spored mushroom and possibly a Cortinarius.

FWIW, Tricholoma is a genus, not a family.

[AAK]

Thanks Adam.

Whoops, relooking at my notes you are indeed correct that the spores were brown, my notes said concolourous with the cap. (I put a drop of Melzer’s reagent on white spore slides and thought that was why the spore colour through the microscope had that colouring). Helps explain my lack of luck with the Tricholoma genus (noted), and I know from past experience that as a Cortinarius, an identification becomes a whole lot more challenging. Apologies.

As to the spores, I would certainly suggest they are smooth – the camera that slips into the lens isn’t that great, but I attach another photo of the spores this time with a bit of oil and at 1000x magnification.

Thanks for the help

[Author]

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