Summary of Interesting Results Here are some of the newest, most interesting results of the study: a paper declared that Pluteus exilis was the only "deer" mushroom known from the PNW, not P. cervinus itself, but their sample size was very small and I have shown that P. cervinus is indeed abundant in the PNW as well. Pluteus leucoborealis was discovered in the PNW. If Pluteus laricinus does not turn out to be a synonym of P. atromarginatus, the proper name for our species with black marginate gill edges is P. laricinus. As usual, some local species are somewhat genetically different here than in their type areas, so it's possible they may need new names and this should be studied further - e.g. Pluteus salicinus, P. leoninus (along with the real species), P. plautus (up to 4 genetic species) Not previously known from the PNW: Pluteus aff. nanus, P. aff. hispidulus

Pluteus section Pluteus - click to expand No sac volva. Growing on wood. This section smells and tastes like radish and has pleurocystidia on the gill faces that are fat and spindle shaped and look like they are wearing a jester cap. section Pluteus pleurocystidia © Tom Volk Species mentioned: Pluteus cervinus, exilis, elaphinus, primus, orestes, parilis n.p., pouzarianus, atromarginatus, laricinus, salicinus, petasatus, magnus, leucoborealis, brunneidiscus, washingtonensis, heterocystis, pellitus, nothopellitus, hongoi   Pluteus cervinus group - unclamped Our most common species group, but only confidently identified even to group microscopically by the absence of clamp connections. A recent DNA paper declared that only P. exilis had been found so far in the PNW, but both species were in California, but they had a very small sample size (four collections). So I started sequencing all the deer mushrooms I could find in OR and WA and the first 6 turned out to be P. cervinus and none were P. exilis, so my report suggested the opposite, also with a small sample size. So that teaches us the dangers of studies with small sample sizes. Fast forward to a few years later, and the data as of this writing shows 33 P. exilis versus 45 P. cervinus sequenced from the PNW, pretty evenly found. Pluteus cervinus EU - the so-called "deer" mushroom, because the cap reminded somebody of a deer pelt. Black fibrils are usually on the stem. No clamp connections under the microscope. Usually a medium brownish-grey, but the cap can be darker or lighter like other species found below with clamps, so you need to check for clamps to be certain you have one of these two species. Pluteus exilis CA - very, very difficult to distinguish without DNA sequencing. Note that pure white versions of Pluteus exilis have been found in WA twice, but I have no confirmed Pluteus cervinus collections lacking pigment. Pluteus hongo Japan - another lookalike unclamped species found a few times in the BC Rockies. Pluteus rangifer Russia - another lookalike unclamped species found a few times in the BC Rockies and Coast ranges. Pluteus elaphinus MA - a couple WA and OR collections are the first known west coast collections of this lookalike that might be told apart by a little more scaliness on the cap and stem than the other clampless section Pluteus species. Pluteus cervinus © Danny Miller,     P. exilis (normal and albino) © Kieran Yeung and Yi-Min Wang,     P. elaphinus © Yi-Min Wang   Pluteus pouzarianus group - clamped These species have clamps, and are collected less frequently than the unclamped species. Although some have tried to distinguish the species by cap colour, as you'll see from the photos, that is not reliable and they have to be distinguished microscopically. Pluteus sp. 'pouzarianus-CA01' - on conifers with a greyish-brown cap with a cuticle that is two-layered, leaving a faint whitish bloom (although it is one of the species we have found in albino form). It is only weakly radish smelling. An AZ collection has ambiguous locations in ITS uniting our PNW and CA sequences with EU sequences of the actual species, but TEF1 sequences show that our species should not be called P. pouzarianus but needs its own name. In an ITS only tree, it may not seem distinct. Pluteus primus EU - P. primus is a conifer species most often with a very dark cap but a microscope is required for proper confirmation (as you can see by the last photo, although it does lack the black stem fibrils usually found on P. cervinus/exilis). Several WA sequences match official EU and CA sequences quoted in the paper. One old collection had marginate gills. Some agarics seem to be capable of developing marginate gills in age and this may be one of them, as this has never been recorded for this species before. Pluteus orestes CA - this clamped species has a medium to pale brown cap and is found in the cascades on conifers. Best distinguished microscopically. OR and WA sequences match CA type area sequences. Pluteus parilis n.p. - this clamped species is not described yet, but probably will be from CA. I have WA and OR sequences that match the CA sequences that it will be described from. It is supposedly a medium to pale brown capped conifer species from the coast and the cascades, but best distinguished microscopically. Pluteus sp. 'PNW19' - known from BC and WA, this may have a tan cap or a dark brown cap. It is close to P. parilis but distinct in ITS and TEF1. Pluteus sp. 'PNW22' - known from one WA collection. Pluteus sp. 'pouzarianus-CA01' © Terri Clements and Donna Fulton (from AZ), Dean Lyons (from CA), and Yi-Min Wang (from WA) Pluteus primus © Sharon Squazzo and Yi-Min Wang (2 images) Pluteus orestes © Ron Pastorino and Sava Krstic   Pluteus parilis n.p. (pale version) © Julie Jones,     P. sp. 'PNW19' © Christopher Ng and Yi-Min Wang   Pluteus petasatus EU - very similar to the above, but without black fibrils on the stem. Whitish cap is overlain with black fibrils. On urban area hardwoods. No clamps. CA and WA sequences match the EU exactly. Justo concluded that the type of Pluteus magnus was the same as this, although they could not obtain DNA to prove it. probable Pluteus petasatus © Andrew Parker,     P. petasatus © Bruce Newhouse   Pluteus leucoborealis Siberia - another large species that was not known from the PNW (but was reported in California) until I found it in my yard and sequenced it and it matched the type. Since then we found a better WA collection. It has a large pale or whitish cap with some brown, radial fibrils (although my specimen was probably old and had a uniform tan cap), and a pale stem (much like P. petasatus) but is more often found in wild areas instead of urban areas.  Pluteus leucoborealis © Danny Miller and Sharon Squazzo   Pluteus atromarginatus EU (=Pluteus laricinus MI) - black marginate gill edges set this species apart from our others, but note that as seen with P. primus above, this is not the only species capable of having marginate gills due to weathering. Our local sequences don't match EU sequences in ITS very well, but apparently they do in TEF1 and no morphological or ecological differences were detected, so we are using the European name. The east coast P. laricinus is the same too. Some of our collections do match the ITS type sequence of that species. unsequenced Pluteus atromarginatus © Michael Beug   Pluteus salicinus EU - medium brown cap with a white stem that turns blue when handled from psilocybin. It is not known what reports of this from the PNW actually are. We need collections. Section Hispidoderma below has a dark capped bluing species that does not smell of radish nor have the "jester cap" cystidia. Pluteus washingtonensis WA (formerly 'salicinus-PNW11) - the holotype sequence shows it is near Pluteus salicinus, but it has not been observed to turn blue. So what is our bluing species? unsequenced Pluteus salicinus-like mushroom from CA © Erin Page Blanchard   Pluteus heterocystis WA (Pluteus brunneidiscus CT misapplied) - a sometimes smaller (cap ~5cm across) deer mushroom, often with a dark cap and again without black fibrils on the stem. This photo shows an interesting white ground colour showing through that is atypical. It has also been found in albino form (pure white). It grows with hardwoods and has clamp connections. Sequences from BC, WA, OR and ID of P. heterocystis all match the holotype sequence. It was long thought that this was Pluteus brunneidiscus CT, but when that type was sequenced, it turned out to be different than expected. Pluteus heterocystis © Jonathan Frank (typical dark fibrils on cap) and Dean Lyons (albino)   There has been speculation that Pluteus pellitus, Pluteus nothopellitus or Pluteus hongoi could conceivably be present in the PNW, but no reports nor even rumours yet. But if you think you find one, let me know.

Pluteus section Celluloderma - click to expand No sac volva. Growing on wood. This section does not smell of radish and does not have the jester capped pleurocystidia. The microscopic cap cuticle is composed of rounded elements, which makes the cap susceptible to wrinkling. (There may also be elongated elements like section Hispidoderma, but that section should not have any rounded elements). Usually they are colourful and have a smooth cap, but they might have a felty or fibrillose cap like section Hispidoderma, so if you don't have a microscope, also check that section. Species mentioned: Pluteus fulvibadius, fulvobadius, romellii, chrysophlebius, rugosidiscus, aurantiorugosus, phaeocyanopus, thomsonii, tomentosulus, nanus, hispidulus, podospileus, inflatus   Yellow-brown shades Pluteus fulvibadius (fulvobadius) OR (P. 'romellii' misapplied) - brown, yellow-brown (or occasionally just yellow) cap, often wrinkled and sometimes felty. It has a somewhat yellow stem and young gills. Similar Pluteus leoninus group mushrooms are hard to tell apart without a scope, but are more likely to have a felty/velvety cap and won't be wrinkled (as they are not in this section). Authors that studied PNW collections noted that P. fulvibadius had differently shaped cystidia than the very similar EU mushroom Pluteus romellii, and suggested we should probably be using our local species name instead of the EU name (as everybody has been using the EU name for our collections). I can confirm that DNA sequences from BC, OR and WA are distinct in ITS from EU sequences of P. romellii by about 1% or so, and our local sequences mostly differ from each other in ambiguous locations only. We don't have a type sequence of P. fulvibadius, but a recent paper has confirmed that this is the proper name of our local species. As to the spelling, Murrill originally spelled it "fulvibadius". Subsequent Latin scholars corrected it to "fulvobadius" for reasons that are unclear, so other Latin scholars have now argued to change it back. Some collections, at least in CA, have green tones in the young caps, but they do not have unique sequences and are considered the same species. Pluteus vellingae CA - widely distributed across the world and now sequenced from BC in the PNW. It is "challenging to differentiate" but more slender and its young gills are white or only slightly yellow. Pluteus fulvibadius © Jonathan Frank and Andrew Parker (2 images),     Pluteus vellingae © Marshall Archibald   Bright orange shades Pluteus chrysophlebius SC (formerly PNW21) - somewhat similar to P. fulvibadius, but usually entirely bright yellow to orange-yellow with a bright stem coloured like the cap. Although a related species exists back east and here, this clade has been determined to be the actual species. Pluteus sp. 'chrysophlebius-PNW20' - a sister species found both back east and here. I don't know yet how to differentiate it. Pluteus flammans EU - one northern BC Rockies sequence matches the holotype. It is a lookalike of P. chrysophlebius, but the cap may have some texture and the stem may be paler. Pluteus rugosidiscus VA - a sister species said to have a green tinge to the cap, also from back east, differing by 5% in ITS. Many people thought this was a synonym of P. chrysophlebius. Collections with a green tinge to the cap have been reported from the PNW so we need greenish collections to sequence to see if we have this species here too. Pluteus aurantiorugosus EU - a lovely deep orange capped species, but with a white to pale yellow stem. East coast sequences differ from EU sequences by 4-6 bp or so, but a study was unable to find any ecological or morphological differences so it is thought they are all one species. Our one WA collection matches EU sequences.   Pluteus chrysophlebius © Yi-Min Wang,     P. sp. 'chrysophlebius-PNW20' © Zane Walker (2 images),     P. aurantiorugosus © Peter Sheff   Plutues nanus clade - stems with a bluish tinge - in some species this is easy to overlook or not always present. Roundish spores (although other groups may have this too). Interestingly, these species are in a different section than the paler capped bluing species like Pluteus salicinus, which means that psilocybin may have evolved in Pluteus multiple times. Pluteus phaeocyanopus CA - with a dark brown cap and a paler stem that turns appreciably blue when handled. It is a CA oak species found once in WA under oak matching a paratype sequence. Pluteus sp. 'nanus-CA01' - a lookalike known from CA and a couple OR collections. Pluteus sp. 'nanus-PNW01' - not as dark capped and perhaps only slightly bluing, found in CA and once in WA. Pluteus sp. 'nanus-PNW02' - a single WA collection with perhaps a slight blue-grey tinged stem. Pluteus sp. 'nanus-PNW15' - a single WA collection with a dark cap under cottonwood and willow, and stem with a slight bluish tinge. Pluteus griseopus UK (formerly 'nanus-PNW16') - known from a single BC sequence, no photo or information, matches the type sequence fairly closely Pluteus sp. 'nanus-PNW17' - known from a single BC sequence, no photo or information Pluteus sp. 'nanus-PNW18' - known from four BC sequences, no photo or information unsequenced Pluteus phaeocyanopus (from CA) © Christian Schwarz,     P. sp. 'nanus-PNW01' (2 images) © Damon Tighe,     P. sp. 'nanus-PNW02' (2 images) © Yi-Min Wang,     P. sp. 'nanus-PNW15' © Danny Miller   White decorated caps Pluteus tomentosulus NY - this cottony capped all white Pluteus could be mistaken for a Volvariella if the lack of volva isn't noted, and since many Pluteus seem to have albino forms, every all-white collection is not necessarily this. Sequences from WA and OR match sequences from ENA, where is was described, which probably represent this species. One microscopic analysis failed to find rounded elements in the cap cuticle, but the genetics clearly place this species in section Celluloderma. A type sequence will be designated soon to clarify this. Pluteus tomentosulus © Andrew Parker   Wrinkled caps Pluteus sp. 'thomsonii-PNW04' (Pluteus thomsonii EU misapplied) - this usually smallish, nondescript tan capped species is especially susceptible to raised wrinkling and reticulation, but it doesn't demonstrate that very often and therefore may be difficult to identify, resembling P. inflatus, described next, except with larger, non-round spores 8.5-9.5 x 6-7 µm. Two local sequences and several CA sequences are 3% different from UK/EU sequences. There is a paper in the works to describe this sister species. An unsequenced collection with a strongly reticulated cap, once thought to be this species, is shown below along with a sequenced collection that was very nondescript. We need collections with a strongly reticulated cap. Unsequenced Pluteus © Danny Miller,     P. sp. 'thomsonii-PNW04' © Yi-Min Wang   Textured caps - easily confused with section Hispidoderma Pluteus inflatus EU (formerly 'podospileus-PNW03') - usually with a textured cap and with roundish spores about 5.3–6.2u in diameter. It lacks pleurocystidia and was found once in WA in an urban setting, but is more common back east and in Europe. Pluteus sp. 'PNW13' - in the P. inflatus/podospileus group but still unnamed. The cap seems dark and textured, and it's somewhat stocky. Found in WA, ID, OR, and CA. Pluteus sp. 'OR01' - known from CA and once in OR, this is sister to P. tomentosulus but not white, but still possessing a decorated cap. It may be a little stockier than others (like P. tomentosulus). It may have roundish spores like the P. podospileus group species. Pluteus sp. 'PNW12' - known from one lone OR collection, presumably the spores are not quite as round. Pluteus sp. 'PNW14' - one WA collection, presumably the spores are not quite as round. Pluteus inflatus (2 images) © Yi-Min Wang,     Pluteus sp. 'PNW13' © Yi-Min Wang,     P. sp. 'OR01' © Ethan Disbrow,     P. sp. 'PNW12' © Leah Bendlin,     P. sp. 'PNW14' © Matthew Koons

Pluteus section Hispidoderma - click to expand No sac volva. Growing on wood. This section does not smell of radish and does not have the jester capped pleurocystidia. The microscopic cap cuticle is composed of elongated elements. (Section Celluloderma may also have elongated elements, but it should have at least some rounded elements too). Usually they have a fibrillose or velvety cap, but not always, so if you don't have a microscope, also check section Celluloderma. Species mentioned: Pluteus leoninus, flavofuligineus, hesperius, pumae, umbrosus, granularis, granulatus, plautus, latifolius, avellaneus, niveus, depauperatus.   Pluteus hesperius BC (Pluteus leoninus EU misapplied, P. flavofuligineus NY misapplied) - yellow-brown to brown possibly felty cap sometimes with a yellow rim, pinkish stem becoming yellow. This is our conifer species that is sometimes terrestrial. The similar Pluteus fulvibadius ('romellii') is often going to have a wrinkled cap because of its placement in section Celluloderma (and usually, but not always, has a more uniformly dark brown cap and a brighter yellow stem). Although there is no good way to tell them apart, EU, ENA and WNA sequences differ and are now considered separate species. Pluteus pumae BC (Pluteus leoninus EU misapplied, P. flavofuligineus NY misapplied) - the hardwood associate lookalike turns out to be genetically different and got its own name. However, P. leoninus EU, P. flavofuligineus NY and P. pumae BC are all within 4 bp of each other in ITS and make up a complex of species practically identical morphologically. They were separated because of their geographic isolation and slight differences in ITS. Both our local species are more likely to be brown than yellow on the cap. The other two are more likely to be yellow than brown.   Pluteus hesperius © Ed Barge and albino version © Andrew Parker,     P. pumae © Jacob Kalichman (from CA, 2 images)   Pluteus umbrosus EU (formerly PNW05/umbrosus-CA01) - Pluteus granularis NY and Pluteus umbrosus EU are two very similar and closely related species with a dark brown scaly cap with the dark scales looking like radiating veins, and fibrils or scales on much of the stem too. Stems can be >5 mm thick. There are several species going by both these names, but Justo has provided sequences that represent each species to help sort them out. One WA collection sequenced 5 bp different than what Justo calls P. umbrosus in the EU, and another WA collection sequenced a different 5bp different from it. But a CA sequence has ambiguous locations in those places, uniting the sequences. I'm going to assume for now that it's all one species. It can be variable though, as each collection looked different. The cap may be dark or pale brown, and the scales may be broken up all over the cap instead of radiating (see photos). Pluteus granularis NY (=Pluteus latifolius WA) - not to be confused with Pluteus granulatus EU. One single Chilliwack BC collection of this lookalike of P. umbrosus matches Justo's concept of P. granularis. The type of Pluteus latifolius WA, with a cold brown scaly cap, shows that it is a newer synonym. Pluteus sp. 'plautus-PNW06' - while Pluteus granulatus EU (not to be confused with Pluteus granularis NY) has not yet been found in the west, this close relative has. It is soon getting a name. It can be stockier and darker than most other P. plautus relatives, covered next, making it hard to differentiate from P. umbrosus, although it may not be as likely to have scales like radiating veins. The second photo show an smaller, paler collection that looks much like the other P. plautus relatives and not P. umbrosus. It has been sequenced from BC, ID and OR. Pluteus longistriatus NY - has quite a striate cap and has been confirmed once in the BC Rockies. Pluteus umbrosus © Danny Miller and Harte Singer,     Pluteus 'plautus-PNW06' © Andrew Parker and Mary Berbee,     P. longistriatus © Elora Adamson   Finally, rather nondescript, slender Hispidodermas from grey to tan to dark brown, with or without dark scales on the stem. Stems usually <5 mm thick. Caps often hygrophanous. Pluteus avellaneus NY (=Pluteus niveus NY) (formerly PNW07/IN09) - OR and CA. Our one photo has a tan, somewhat hairy, hygrophanous cap, and no scales on the stem except for some white pruinosity. We now have the type sequences and matching PNW collections. Pluteus sp. 'CA01' (depauperatus complex EU) (formerly PNW08) - OR and CA. Our one photo has a somewhat pale grey cap with a dark brown disc, and a stem marked with white streaks and pruinosity. This complex may stay as one species or possibly be split, but for now we are using a code. Pluteus plautus EU (formerly PNW09) - one WA collection had a fairly pale cap and lacked scales on the stem. A BC collection had a dark cap and dark fibres on the stem. Clearly, more examples are needed of each to figure out how to recognize this. A neotype of P. plautus shows that it is this species.   Pluteus avellaneus © Sava Krstic,     Pluteus sp. 'CA01' (depauperatus complex) © Jonathan Frank,     P. plautus © Buck McAdoo and Zeenath Aleaf

Volvopluteus - click to expand Sac volva. Growing on the ground, but often in rich soil or grass. The cap is viscid and smooth. Species mentioned: Volvopluteus gloiocephalus, Volvariella speciosa   Volvopluteus gloiocephalus EU (=Volvariella speciosa EU) - our least rare species was recently moved to a new genus when it was discovered that the viscid, smooth capped Volvariellas were not so closely related to the others. It is found worldwide and a BC sequence matches quite well. It used to be called Volvariella speciosa, but it turned out that V. gloiocephalus was the same thing and the most valid, oldest name. Volvopluteus gloiocephalus © Noah Siegel

Volvariella - click to expand Sac volva. Growing on wood, the ground, rich soil, grass or other mushrooms. The cap is dry and fibrillose. Some consider this a separate family, the Volvariellaceae. Species mentioned: Volvariella volvacea, bombycina, surrecta, pusilla, hypopithys, smithii, terrea   Volvariella cf volvacea EU - the store bought "paddy straw" mushroom found in many Asian dishes may have escaped into the wild here as it has been reported. It has a fairly dark grey cap, whereas the others have mostly white to light grey caps. There are at least two genetic sister species in the EU going by this name, so more work is needed to figure out which one is the real one, and which one might occur here.   Volvariella bombycina EU (formerly 'bombycina-IN02') - quite large with an equally impressive large volva, and growing directly on hardwood instead of the ground like most others. I have reliable EU sequences closely matching one ID collection. Volvariella sp. 'bombycina-IN01' - one OR collection of a sister species that may be distinct, although we don't know yet how to tell them apart. unsequenced Volvariella bombycina complex member © Noah Siegel   Volvariella surrecta UK - notable for growing parasitically on Clitocybe nebularis and perhaps other species. We have one local EWA sequence that matches three EU sequences, so we probably do have that species here. unsequenced Volvariella surrecta © Noah Siegel   Volvariella terrea EU - a recent surprise from OR, matching the EU type sequence very well. This species may be parasitic on Agaricus xanthodermus, which has been found under the same oak tree as this collection. Volvariella sp. 'OR01' - a small brown capped species. Volvariella terrea © Bitty Roy,     V. sp. 'OR01' © Maddox Atagi   Volvariella cf hypopithys EU / Volvariella smithii WA / Volvariella cf pusilla EU - small, white Volvariellas growing on the ground. They are supposedly separated by the first two having a pubescent stem (the third with a smooth stem), by V. smithii having an off white (pinkish or brownish) disc and volva and narrower spores, and by V. pusilla being more often in urban soils and grasses. These differences seem slight. We don't have any local sequences of any of them, but a bunch of sequences from the EU and Quebec match within 1% and are sometimes called V. pusilla and sometimes V. hypopithys, so this may be all one species with a bit of genetic variation. Since EU and eastern NA sequences match, perhaps ours will match too. If there's only one species, the oldest name by far is Volvariella pusilla. But with notably narrower spores, our endemic Volvariella smithii may be a distinct species. We need local collections of all of these. Volvariella sp. 'PNW01' - one WA collection was all white with a cap 4cm across, a fibrillose cap with a jagged margin, a pubescent stem, and tan colourations on the disc and volva. The spores were 5-7×3.5-5(6)u, similar to V. hypopithys and V. pusilla, but best matching V. hypopithys. The sequence is nowhere near any other known sequence (and certainly nowhere near other sequences claiming to be V. hypopithys). unsequenced Volvariella © Danny Miller,     Volvariella sp. 'PNW01' © Andrew Parker (2 images)

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