Cortinarius subbalaustinus  Rob. Henry (1991)                                   *Collections: California

This is one of the anonymous Telamonias that can be seen even in suburbia. I have collected it from under Live Oak and Tanoak within several locations in Calfironia. The overall orange coloration, the distinct white margin on the cap in young material and the strong earthy/raphanoid odor are fairly constant characters. Traditionally in the European literature the complex of Cortinarius balaustinus and Cortinarius subbalaustinus has been associated with birch and the odor described as non or slightly raphanoid. The distinction between balaustinus and subbalaustinus is based on spores shape, being somewhat subglobose in the former and more narrowly ellipsoid in the latter. The molecular data shows that the collection illustrated here matched quite well collections of C. subbalaustinus from Germany. Due to the host being Live Oak and not Birch in this case, I considered this collection at one time to represent Cortinarius duracinus var. raphanicus Moser, which also has similar colors, strongly raphanoid odor and often shows a distinctly fasciculate habit.

Spores: 8-10 x 4.5-6µ Cuticle hyphae.