Notes:
Macro: Two slender, single fruitings within a foot of each other, in mixed woods, one a bit more mature than the other. Cap about 5-7 cm across, appressed fibrillose with dark fibrils ~ 1-2 mm long. Gills pallid, pinkish grey when younger, becoming darker and eventually very dark brownish (almost appearing black upon drying). Odor of gills phenol-like (kind of sweet and stringent?); Stipe glabrous, mostly equal throughout length, slightly tapered to a bulbous base (not abrupt, but a bit more than a gradual, bulbous base), stipe becoming light brownish to yellow upon handling, eventually resolving to a dark brown upon drying; annulus nearly fallen off of the more mature fruiting, flaring on the younger specimen, the outer layer of the veil with longitudinal groves/ridges, greyish, and the inner layer more tomentose to kind of flocculate, with material being a lighter yellow-caramel color. Bulb becoming yellow when handled/bruised, lower stipe context as well. Entire mushroom drying completely brownish-black, odor stronger after a few days.
Micro: Spores ellipsoid to ovoid, dark brown, smooth with thickened walls, ~ (4.8 – 5.1) 5.3 – 5.8 (6.0) x 3.0 – 3.5 (3.6 – 3.8) μm; Q = 1.46 – 2.0; N = 33; Avg L x W: 5.51 × 3.27 μm; Avg Q: 1.69; (95% Conf: L x W = 5.4 – 5.6 × 3.2 – 3.4 μm; Q = 1.65 – 1.74); Pleurocystidia not found; Cheilocystidia clavate to subcylindrical to cylindro-clavate, relatively abundant, with and without septa, variable in size, sometimes appearing to be basidiole-like, ~ (10.0 – 13.0) 15.3 – 23.5 (24.0 – 27.0) x (5.0) 5.8 – 6.5 (6.8 – 7.0) μm; Q = 1.7 – 4.6; N = 31; Avg L x W: 19.1 – 6.0 μm; Avg Q: 3.2; (95% Conf: L x W =17.5 – 20.7 × 5.8 – 6.2 μm; Q = 3.0 – 3.5); Pileipellis a cutis.