Phaeocollybia kauffmanii

Norvell (2000) emended the description of Phaeocollybia kauffmanii to a more narrow concept. Phaeocollybia kauffmanii sensu stricto is distinguished from the four other species of the P. kauffmanii complex by abundant clamp connections (Phaeocollybia ammiratii), a pink- or purple-brown pileus lacking encrusting pigments in the pileipellis (Phaeocollybia benzokauffmanii), a nonviscid, fibrillose, ochraceous pileus with a trilaminate pileipellis (Phaeocollybia luteosquamulosa), and unusually large basidiospores and subglobose subcapitate pedicellate cheilocystidia (Phaeocollybia redheadii) (Norvell 2000).

This species is found along the west coast mountains from British Columbia to California with uncertain occurrences elsewhere. There are about 160 occurrences, some of which are threatened by logging and development. Recent splits in the species make the rank assigned uncertain.

This species is found along the west coast mountains from British Columbia to California. There are collections from Vermont and Tennessee, as well as on Popocatepetl mountain in Mexico. In the 2002 ranking, the Vermont specimen is described as immature and is left out of the range calculation. There is also a collection from central Idaho in the Upper Salmon River area, but the location is based on coordinates that are precise to a half of a degree. The collector has a collection with a number two lower from the Mount Hood area, and one higher from northern Idaho. It is most likely that that collection is also from the Mount Hood area, which would place it near several other collections. It could also be from the Idaho panhandle, as there is hemlock forest in that area and the 2002 ranking by L. Norvell mentions a more recent northern Idaho collection that is not listed in the Mycoportal.org database in 2016. Including only the sites west of the Cascade Crest (from BC to Santa Cruz County, CA), the range is 337,311 sq. km. Including all of the records would make the range greater than 2.5 million sq. km.

Around 88% of the sites are not in protected areas. If those sites are logged on a 40 year rotation, around 22% would be impacted over 10 years and around 88% would be impacted over 100 years. Around 10 sites may be threatened by residential development.