drifting_biospheres's Identifications

At the base of the foothills, on the ground with grass under sagebrush.
Same location than before doesn't appear to spread or move around.
Cap 4.5 cms., viscid, bright orange brown.
Gills adnate, crowded, broad, ventricose.
Stipe 5.5 x 1.0 cms., fibrillose.
Taste mild.
Flesh pale yellowish.
Spore print a little darker than usual for Pholiota.
Spores elliptic (6.7-7.5) x (4.0-4.6) Q=1.7. Germ pore barely visible.
Pleurocystidia ventricose (56-64) x (18-20). Not as chrysocystidia. Wall thickness 1.5 μ.
Cheilocystidia abundant, projecting, ventricose like the pleurocystidia or subcapitate (25-44) x (14-18); or longer lanceolate (56x6)

For other pictures and spore print color see the 2021 observation:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/108407008

On sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, at the base of the foothills.
Appears abundant.
Size 3.5 x 2 cms.
Pores angular 3-4 pores per mm. (pic 4, caliper opening 5 mm).
Spores broadly elipsoid, smooth, hyaline, (5.5 - 6.3) x (4.2 -5.0) This is a little larger than described.
Basidia broadly ovoid 10-12 x 6-8 (Pic7, basidia looks like spores but is a little larger and elongated, count 3+)
Setae rare, thick walled, ventricose with a sharp point 24 x 9. (Pic 6)
The sample has some Xanthomendoza lichens on it, if selecting for DNA sampling, care should be taken selecting a contaminant free sample. Contaminant spores are visible on pic9 (last) with some two septa foreign spores.

Ref.: Phellinus artemisiae sp. nov. (Basidiomycota, Hymenochaetaceae), from western
USA, J. Vlasak and J. Vlasak Jr.; 2017.

Personal collection number N3582
Under conifers with moss.
Caps small, 2.0 - 2.5 cms.
Spores (10.7 -13.2) (15.0) x (5.6 - 7.0)
Basidia (37-40) x (7.8-8.9), some I belief 2 spored, explaining the occasional larger spores.
Cheilocystidia long and narrow, slightly clavate, ( 60 - 70) x (6.2-6.8)

Personal collection number 3573
Ground under conifers, on muddy soil, near the creek, with some alder bushes.
Small cap 2 cm., umbonate, dark brown, silky; stipe 4x.2, yellow-brown with yellow brown margin; gills subdistant, yellow-brown, adnate.
Spores rough, elliptical, (9.0-11.0) x (5.2-6.3)
Basidia (40 x 9).

With sphagnum with betula, under spruce, fir mix, subalpine.

I think is the same as this other collection, that includes microscopy. However the spores are a bit larger that described for this name:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/180474747
Genbank ITS PP537917

With conifers. On the ground with a small rotten wood piece. Still not fully grown, in a cluster.
Cap dark brown, umbonated, (unopen yet, about 1.5 to 2.5 cms.), with grey gills and a grey silvery stipe.
Gills grey, adnexed.
Microscopy:
I got this under the microscope trying to ascertain what kind of Lyophyllum this was. The spores didn't have the shape that I was looking for; I thought that maybe they were covered by a gelatinous material, so I added some stain, some KOH, and wait for the KOH to clean that up. It couldn't... this spores are angular, 5 or 6 sided, subisodiametrical, but with a shape a little hard to describe in some views.

Spores (7.7 - 10.5) x (7.0 - 9.0); aver= 8.7x7.7); Q=1.13.
Basidia clavate, some of them having a really broad apex, (48 - 65) x (10-13.5). On my experience, this basidia was not as siderophillous as the species of Lyophyllum I encountered before.
No cystidia observed.
GenBank ITS PP410241

A small Gymnopilus from the G. sapineus group . It appears abundant and common.
The caps on these are smooth, yellow-orange, and are small. Mostly at ground level on conifer material, douglas fir and similar.
Cap 3.5 cms., yellow/orange/red/brown. Smooth, and convex.
Gills, adnate, crowded to close, fairly narrow, yellow to orange/brown.
Taste bitter.
Spores verrucose, reddish, elliptical, oval, and almond. (7.0-9.0) x (5.0-5.7)
Pleurocystidia capitate about 30 x 7;
basidia 24 x 6.5.
GenBank ITS PP291716.1

In the Boise rive river riparian zone. Close to populus.
Same very slender, some others a little less slender.
A consistent feature was the fragility of the flesh... very hard to collect without breaking it.
Cap brown 4 cms. bold and flat. Dark brown, but hygrophanous, lighting up on the margins, leaving a dark center at times (see pic 5)
Stipe twisting, brown to dark brown, fibrillose.
Gills white.
Needed microscopy to make a determination:
This species has lageniform cheilocystidia with acute apex with crystals. (42-48) x (10-14)
Spores with amyloid warts, elliptical to oblong,
(7.7-9.0) (10.0) x (5.0 - 5.7) Q=1.6
GenBank ITS PP545467

By the Boise river, near populus.
These ones have lots of black scales on the cap. The gills start white, and then pinkish before they darken.
I almost thought that they were Leucoagaricus at first, but it has the typical Xanthodermatei ring, and it turned yellow at the base of the stipe quicky when injured. The cap doesn't seem to change colors, at least not quicky.
Genbank ITS PP549204

Smells of wet leather; robust and thick. Approximately 10 inches across at widest point. Cap tissue white and thick (0.5 to 1.5 inches thick without teeth.) Mixed conifer area with spruce, fir, and pine present. Some Douglas fir and aspen as well. Microscopy and spore image by @joemat