Pluteus leoninus

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Ecology: Saprobic, growing alone or scattered on decaying hardwood logs and debris, or growing terrestrially; causing a white rot; late spring, early summer and fall east of the Rocky Mountains, over winter on the West Coast; widely distributed in North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Québec.

Cap: 3-5 cm; convex or bell-shaped at first, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat, but often retaining a broad central bump; finely velvety to silky, especially over the center; golden to dull or brownish yellow, with a brownish center; the margin not lined.

Gills: Free from the stem or nearly so; close or crowded; short-gills frequent; whitish at first, becoming pink.

Stem: 5-9 cm long; up to 0.5 cm thick; tapering slightly to apex; bald or finely silky; whitish to yellowish or brownish; becoming hollow; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Thin; white; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5.5-7 x 5-6 ; subglobose to broadly ellipsoid; smooth; ochraceous in KOH; inamyloid. Pleurocystidia widely lageniform, subutriform, or subsaccate; thin-walled; occasionally with one or two small hooks; hyaline in KOH; scattered; to 100 x 28 . Cheilocystidia fusiform or narrowly lageniform; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH; often abundant; to 65 x 12 . Pileipellis a cutis. Clamp connections absent.

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