Cortinarius ponderosus
Encyclopedia
Cortinarius ponderosus, also known as the Ponderous Cortinarius, is a basidiomycete mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

 of the genus Cortinarius
Cortinarius
Cortinarius is a genus of mushrooms. It is suspected to be the largest genus of agarics, containing over 2000 different species and found worldwide. A common feature among all species in the genus Cortinarius is that young specimens have a cortina between the cap and the stem, hence the name,...

. It is very large and due to its thick stem it can be mistaken for Boletus edulis
Boletus edulis
Boletus edulis, commonly known as penny bun, porcino or cep, is a basidiomycete fungus, and the type species of the genus Boletus. Widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere across Europe, Asia, and North America, it does not occur naturally in the Southern Hemisphere, although it has been...

.

Description

This mushroom is one of the largest mushrooms in the genus Cortinarius
Cortinarius
Cortinarius is a genus of mushrooms. It is suspected to be the largest genus of agarics, containing over 2000 different species and found worldwide. A common feature among all species in the genus Cortinarius is that young specimens have a cortina between the cap and the stem, hence the name,...

, with a convex cap that ranges from 8 to 38 cm across and becomes plane in age. It often has an olive metallic tinge, and the surface is viscid, often with small rusty brown scales. The margin is ocher and remains inrolled until the mushroom is fully mature. The flesh of the mushroom is white, thick and firm. The gills are rusty brown, adnate and slightly decurrent. The stalk is thick and bulbous at the base. It has a slimy yellow universal veil, and the cortina
Cortina
-Things:* Cortina * Ford Cortina, a medium-sized family car built by Ford of Britain from 1962 to 1982**Lotus Cortina, a 1963–1968 performance variant on the above...

leaves a rusty brown hairy area on the upper stalk.
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