Hydnum washingtonianum Ellis & Everhart, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1894: 323 (1894)

Swenie, Rachel A., Baroni, Timothy J. & Matheny, P. Brandon, 2018, Six new species and reports of Hydnum (Cantharellales) from eastern North America, MycoKeys 42, pp. 35-72 : 35

Hydnum washingtonianum Ellis & Everhart, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1894: 323 (1894)

= Hydnum neorepandum Niskanen & Liimat., Mycologia 110: in press (2018)

Type.

UNITED STATES. Washington: Kitsap County, Tracyton (47.6090; -122.6540), on ground in deep coniferous woods, 27 Dec 1893, A.M. Parker (holotype: NY 776185, isotype: WTU-F-14341).

Description.

Pileus up to 40 mm wide, subplane, slightly depressed, thin, irregular; surface glabrous, “subviscose”, wrinkled when dry, pale orange. Spines 3-5 mm long, terete, slender, acute, decurrent half way down the stipe, pale yellow but nearly white when fresh. Stipe up to 40 × 5-10 mm, subcylindrical, tapering slightly towards the base, central or slightly eccentric, pale orange. Context fleshy.

Basidiospores 7 –7.7– 8.5 μm × 6 –6.8– 7.5(8) μm, Q=1.04 –1.13– 1.22 (n=40/2), subglobose to broadly ellipsoid, smooth, thin-walled, hyaline in KOH. Basidia 31-41 × 7.5-8.5 μm with 4 sterigmata. Pileipellis hyphae not reviving. Clamp connections present.

Distribution.

Western North America and eastern Canada - British Columbia, Washington (type), California (GenBank GU180269, MG972632), and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ecology.

On ground in coniferous woods. December.

Discussion.

Hydnum washingtonianum , originally described from the Puget Sound region of Washington, is characterized by the pale orange pileus, yellowish decurrent spines, small globose basidiospores, and tough flesh. The species was considered synonymous with H. repandum by Maas Geesteranus (1964) and Hall and Stuntz (1971). However, we were able to produce a partial ITS sequence from the isotype (GenBank MH379846), which does not match European H. repandum sequences. Thus, we consider this species as an autonomous taxon with a mostly northern geographic distribution in North America. Phylogenetic analysis of the ITS sequence confirms this species from Washington, British Columbia, California, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Hydnum washingtonianum is associated with coniferous forests on both coasts, and one environmental sequence (GenBank GU180269) recovered this species on root tips of Pinus muricata in California.

Hydnum neorepandum , a recently described species from Newfoundland and Labrador (Niskanen et al. 2018), has an ITS sequence that differs by a single base pair from that of the isotype of Hydnum washingtonianum . The morphology of both protologues is also in agreement. Thus, we consider H. neorepandum a taxonomic synonym of H. washingtonianum .