Chroogomphus vinicolor

Pileus
Cap 3.0-9.0 cm broad, convex, broadly so in age, occasionally with a pointed umbo; margin inrolled, then incurved, decurved at maturity; surface viscid when moist, drying shiny, glabrous to to appressed fibrillose, mahogany brown to reddish-brown; flesh thick, orange to salmon, unchanging, vinaceous with 3% KOH; odor not distinctive, taste mild.

Lamellae
Gills decurrent, subdistant, orange-brown, becoming greyish brown in age; lamellulae in up to four-series.

Stipe
Stipe 4.5-12.0 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm thick, solid, slender to stout, often flexuous, narrowed towards the base; surface dry, orange-brown with scattered fibrils; partial veil fibrillose, ephemeral, leaving remnants high on the stipe.

Spores
Spores 15-21 x 5-7 µm, smooth, thin-walled, narrowly elliptical in face-view, subfusoid in profile, hilar appendage inconspicuous; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia thick-walled; spore print dark-grey to black.

Habitat
Scattered to gregarious under pines; frequent with Pinus radiata (Monterey pine) in the San Francisco Bay Area; fruiting from early fall through mid-winter, often with Suillus pungens; common.

Edibility
Edible, generally considered mediocre fresh; best when dried.

Comments
Chroogomphus vinicolor is recognized by a mahogany-colored cap, salmon-orange flesh, orange-brown stipe, decurrent gills and a tapering stipe. Chroogomphus ochraceus with which it is often confused has a more greyish-brown cap and paler gills at maturity. (for additional differences see Comments under Chroogomphus ochraceus). Microscopically, Chroogomphus vinicolor differs from Chroogomphus ochraceus in possessing thick-walled rather than thin-walled cystidia.