Key to Rhodocybe in Costa Rica

This key to Rhodocybe was written by Timothy J. Baroni (SUNY Cortland, Cortland, New York, USA) in Brittonia vol. 52: 121-135. 2000.

Vouchers for all collections are on deposit in the mycological herbaria at the Universidad de Costa Rica (USJ) or Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INB). Duplicates are in the Field Museum (F), SUNY Cortland (CORT), or the New York Botanical Garden (NY).

1. Hymenial pseudocystidia present and filled with dark or brightly colored ochre-reddish contents in H₂O, KOH or NH₄OH

2. Pileus dull honey-colored, moist, convex becoming plane; lamellae buff, discoloring yellow when bruised . . . Rhodocybe mellea Baroni & Ovrebo

2. Pileus grayish brown, dry, obtusely conical with a mammilate umbo; lamellae pinkish gray or brownish, not discoloring when bruised . . . Rhodocybe umbrosa Baroni & Halling

1. Hymenial pseudocystidia absent and therefore colored cellular content absent

3. Pileus bright red or bright orange, pileus surface tomentose; stipe mostly white; on leaf litter . . . Rhodocybe incarnata Baroni & Halling

3. Pileus either light buff or dark fuscous or dull drab-tan or cinnamon brown, glabrous; stipe typically colored similar to pileus; lignicolous or on soil

4. Basidiomata eccentrically or laterally stipitate; lamellae crowded

5. Pileus dark fuscous fading to drab-tan; hyphae of lamella trama not gelatinized; cheilocystidia absent . . . Rhodocybe densifolia Baroni & Ovrebo

5. Pileus light buff with pinkish hues; hyphae of lamella trama gelatinized; cheilocystidia clavate or sphaeropedunculate . . . Rhodocybe eccentrica Baroni & Ovrebo

4. Basidiomata centrally stipitate; lamellae subdistant . . . Rhodocybe pseudonitellina Dennis