Cortinarius cucumeris
species of fungus
Cortinarius cucumeris is a basidiomycete fungus of the genus Cortinarius native to New Zealand, where it grows under Nothofagus.
Austrian mycologist Egon Horak described the species in 1990. Within the genus it is classified in the subgenus Myxacium. The species name is the Latin genitive of cucumis, hence "of the cucumber".
The fruit bodies of this fungus have glutinous (slimy) caps up to 5 cm (2.0 in) across and tawny to dark brown in colour and paler at the margins, occasionally with lilac tints. They are conical when young before spreading out to convex and more flat in shape, but maintaining a central nipple-like bump. The crowded gills are adnate or adnexed early and adnate or free later. Initially lilac, they become silvery and then brown as the spores mature. The cylindrical stipe is up to 9 cm (3.5 in) tall and 0.8 cm (0.31 in) wide, pale lilac-blue initially before fading to white with age, The base of the stipe is ochre, and the lower part of the stipe is glutinous (slimy). The mushroom has a strong (and unpleasant) smell and taste of cucumber, though can resemble fish in old decaying specimens.
The public source identifies “Cortinarius cucumeris” as species of fungus. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Cortinarius, cucumeris and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q10460073. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1990.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cortinarius cucumeris” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.