Horak describes the stipe of Pluteus readiarum as being at first whitish but becoming pale yellow or buff in aged specimens and many of the images of this species available in the New Zealand Fungi and Bacteria (NZFungi) website do have a whitish stipe including some Horak images. The variety that I see in the Mangemangeroa Reserve always has a light tan stipe and the cap margin extends beyond the gills (although occasionally this is not obvious).

Description: The fruit bodies of this species can be quite variable in size. The cap is typically 3-6 cm in diameter but can grow up to 8 cm in diameter. The cap has yellow tones and dark squamules radiating outwards typically in a reticulated network pattern but not always. The young cap is convex becoming flat when mature and generally has a raised centre. The gills are cream-pink and the cap margin extends beyond the gills. The stipe is light tan, may be longitudinally ridged and is pruinose with a light powdery covering.

Microscopically the terminal cap cells are cylindrical, with a tapered apex or rounded apex and with brown pigment. These can be variable between individual fruit bodies, some with a mostly tapered apex and others with a mixture of rounded and tapered apex. Pleurocystidia are fusiform in shape overall, with a conical apex, thin-walled and appear lightly pigmented. Some pleurocystidia have a constriction below the apex with a single projection (as illustrated by Greta Stevenson). I have looked at the gills of many fruit bodies of this species and I have never seen any pleurocystidia with more than one projection.

Abundance: Commonly observed in the Mangemangeroa Reserve.

Acknowledgement: J.A. Cooper

Posted on April 22, 2019 08:19 PM by codfish