Gomphidius oregonensis

Pileus
Cap 3-12 cm broad, convex, expanding to nearly plane, the disc sometimes depressed at maturity; margin incurved, then plane to uplifted; surface viscid to glutinous when wet, glabrous, color variable: when young, lilac-grey, pinkish-tan, salmon-buff, buff-brown, darkening in age and often developing blackish spots; context thick, soft, whitish, unchanging or darkening slightly when cut; odor and taste mild.

Lamellae
Gills decurrent, subdistant, moderately thick, at first pallid, becoming greyish-brown.

Stipe
Stipe 5-11 cm long, 1.5-4.0 cm thick, solid, straight to curved, equal or tapered to a point; context firm, upper portion whitish, yellow at the base; apex surface moist, whitish, more or less glabrous, below the veil, pallid, moist, more or less glabrous, sometimes with secondary slime bands when young, the base bright yellow, in age often developing blackish spots; partial veil fibrillose with a glutinous lower layer, leaving a superior annular zone of fibrils and gluten, soon grey-brown from shed spores.

Spores
Spores 11-13.5 x 4.5-5 µm, narrowly ellipsoid to subfusoid, smooth, hilar appendage evident; spore print brownish-black.

Habitat
Typically clustered but also solitary, in mixed hardwood/conifer woods; common under Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii); fruiting from early to mid-winter.

Edibility
Edible, but of little value, slimy.

Comments
This cousin of the common pine spike, Chroogomphus vinicolor, is recognized by a viscid to glutinous cap, often spotted black in age, conspicuously decurrent, gills, and a yellow stipe base. Gomphidius glutinosus is very similar but tends to be more solitary in its fruiting and has a stipe that is usually not as deeply buried in the substrate. A check of spore size, however, is often required to confirm an identification. Fortunately the spores of the two species are easily told apart, those of Gomphidius oregonensis several microns shorter than G. glutinosus. Another species found in our area, Gomphidius subroseus, has a cap, which as the species name suggests, has rose-pink tones.