Pluteus aurantiorugosus

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by Michael Kuo

What a gorgeous mushroom! Listed as rare in field guides and technical descriptions, Pluteus aurantiorugosus is easily recognized by its habitat on wood, its pink spore print, and its scarlet to deep orange cap. I have found exactly one specimen in ten years of mushroom hunting, so I will add my "yes" to the chorus of authors who say it is infrequently encountered.

Pluteus aurantiorugosus is edible, but I doubt it is likely to be found in quantities sufficient for a meal.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on decaying hardwood logs and stumps; growing alone or in small groups; summer and fall; east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 2-5.5 cm; convex becoming broadly convex to flat, sometimes with a central bump; dry or moist; fairly smooth, or somewhat granular (see comments below); the margin sometimes faintly lined at maturity; bright scarlet to orange when young, fading to bright yellow in age.

Gills: Free from the stem; close; whitish, becoming pinkish. In my collection and in the collections of contributor Richard Nadon, the gill edges are somewhat yellow, especially near the margin, while the faces are whitish. This feature is not noted in the literature. I suspect that the yellowish coloration is a result of contact with the stem in the button stage.

Stem: 3-6 cm long; to 1 cm thick; equal; with lengthwise fibers; whitish to yellowish above, flushed with the cap color below; basal mycelium white or yellowish.

Flesh: Pale to yellowish.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: Pink to salmon.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-7 x 4.5-5 µ; elliptical; smooth. Pleurocystidia variously shaped but without apical projections; 44-76 µ long.

Pluteus coccineus and Pluteus caloceps are former names.

Lincoff (1992) emphasizes a "granular" cap and dubs the species the "Golden Granular Pluteus," presumably by translating the Latin name, aurantiorugosus. The cap does not seem notably granular to me, and the species is only "golden" at maturity, after it has faded. Smith, Smith & Weber (1979) do not mention a granular cap, and in fact key the species away from the Pluteus species with velvety and granular caps (like Pluteus granularis).

REFERENCES: (Trog, 1857) Saccardo, 1896. (Kauffman, 1918; Homola, 1972; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Lincoff, 1992; Barron, 1999; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 09280301.

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Kuo, M. (2004, December). Pluteus aurantiorugosus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/pluteus_aurantiorugosus.html