North Carolina, Schweinitz; Pennsylvania, Schweinitz; Massachusetts, Frost; Minnesota; Nova Scotia.
Edible. Cooke.
Myxa´cium. (Gr—mucus.)
Cortinarius collinitus.
About natural size.
C. collin´itus Fr.—collino, to besmear. Pileus convex, obtuse, glabrous, glutinous when moist, shining when dry. Gills rather broad, dingy-white or grayish when young. Stem cylindrical, solid, viscid or glutinous when moist, transversely cracking when dry, whitish or paler than the pileus. Spores subelliptical, 13–15µ.
The Smeared cortinarius is much more common than the Violet cortinarius and has a much wider range. Both the cap and stem are covered with a viscid substance or gluten which makes it unpleasant to handle. The cap varies in color from yellow to golden or tawny-yellow and when the gluten on it has dried it is very smooth and shining. The flesh is white or whitish. The young gills have a peculiar bluish-white or dingy-white color which might be called grayish or clay color, but when mature they assume the color of the spores. They are sometimes minutely uneven on the edge.
The stem is straight, solid, cylindrical and usually paler than the cap. When the gluten on it dries it cracks transversely, giving to the stem a peculiar scaly appearance.
The cap is 1½-3 in. broad, and the stem 2–4 in. long, and ¼-½ in. thick.