Holotype (K): 'Butterfly, Wellington, N.Z.; leg. Stevenson, 2.VI.1958'. - Herb. HK. ZT 68/650: 'Kauaeranga Valley, Coromandel Peninsula, N.Z.; leg. Horak, 8.VII.1968'.

Pileus 10-30 mm diam., hemispherical becoming convex to plane, rarely subdepressed at the centre, margin strongly inrolled, white, turning yellowish, glutinous, neither hygrophanous nor striated. Lamellae broadly adnate to subdecurrent, yellowish to wax yellow, crowded, gill edge concolorous, even. Stipe 40-65 x 2-3 mm, tapering towards the base, rooting, single or fasciculate, whitish-yellowish, apically densely covered with glutinous drops being pruinose or velutinous in dry conditions, slimy towards the base, fistulose, very fragile and brittle. Context whitish-yellowish. Odor and taste not distinctive. Chemical reactions on pileus: KOH - orange. Spores 5-7.5 x 3-3.5 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, inamyloid. Basidia 30-38 x 4-5 µm, 4-spored. Cystidia absent. Cuticle consisting of erect, cylindric or subclavate hyphae forming a palisade, membrane strongly gelatinized, yellow plasmatic pigment present. Clamp connections present.

In soil under broad leaved trees (Weinmannia, Elaeocarpus), Phyllocladus, Brachyglottis, tree-ferns (Cyathea, Dicksonia), etc. New Zealand.

Stevenson 1962: fig. 1/2 a, b.

The most distinctive characters of this species are the strongly enrolled margin of the pileus, the tapering stipe, the slimy drops at the upper portion of the stipe and the fragility of the carpophores. For more detailed discussion see H. salmonipes Stev. (29).

SPECIMENS: NZ: NA, Waitakere Ranges, Karamatura Stream, ZT 1025. - SA, Coromandel Peninsula, Kauaeranga Valley, ZT 68/650. - G, Urewera N. P., ZT 1436.

Pileus-30 mm, hemispherical becoming convex to plane or subdepressed at disc, papilla absent, margin strongly inrolled in young basidiomes; white turning pale yellow or apricot; glutinous, margin not translucently striate, not hygrophanous, glabrous to innately fibrillose in dry conditions. - Lamellae 12- 18 (1-5) crowded, broadly adnate to subdecurrent pale yellow to wax-yellow or apricot, edges concolorous, entire. - Stipe 40-65 x 2-3 mm, cylindrical, mostly tapering towards base, rooting, often caespitose, rarely single; white to pale yellow; slimy, apex densely covered with glutinous, yellowish guttation droplets becoming pruinose or velutinous at dry condition, fistulose, very brittle. Context white to pale yellow, fragile. - Odour and taste not distinctive. - Chemical reactions on pileus: KOH - orange. Spores 5-7 x 3-3.5 um, ellipsoid. - Basidia 30- 40 x 4-6 um, 4-spored. - Cystidia absent -Pileipellis an ixocutis of cylindrical, erect to intertangled hyphae (2-5 um diam.), membranes strongly gelatinised, with yellow plasmatic pigment; clamp connections present (Pl. 1, Fig. 7).

DISTRIBUTION: NZ (NA, SA, G, W).

ECOLOGY: Common; saprobic on soil among litter in broadleaved-conifer forests (Brachyglottis, Nothofagus, Leptospermum, Weinmannia, Phyllocladus, Cyathea). June-July.

ICON: Stevenson (1962: 173); Horak (1973: 157).

Hygrophorus involutus is the most common of all New Zealand Hygrophori. The distinctive characters of this species are the strongly inrolled margin of the pileus, the tapering stipe, the conspicuous slimy drops at the upper portion of the stipe and the fragility of the basidiomes. In addition this taxon is also microscopically well distinguished by rather small spores of slender elliptical to subcylindrical shape.

TYPE: NZ: W, Wellington, Butterfly Creek, under Brachyglottis shrub, 2 vi 1958, Stevenson, K 1347.

[Notes from Kew Type specimen, PRJ 2010] Other Stevenson collection in K, GS 856

Pileus 1-2.5 cm. diam., white, glutinous, plane with a strongly downrolled margin exceeding the gills, pellicle felt-like, peeling; flesh whitish, water-soaked, yielding drops of clear fluid when cut. Gills adnate, moderately thick, moderately crowded, shallow, with a pale pink tinge. Stipe 4-6 X 0.2-0.3 cm., white, upper part velutinate, lower part more or less peronate, cottony striate set with drops of gluten, solid, continuous with cap, equal or tapering at rooting base. Spores 6-7 X 4 µm, oblong, thin-walled, hyaline,  print white. Basidia 30-35 X 3-5μm, four-spored.

Pileus 1-2.5 cm. diam., candidus, glutinosus, applanatus, margine fortiter involuto ultra lamellas excedente, pelliculo intertexto separabili; caro albida, aquosa, vulnerata guttulas hyalinas exsudans. Lamellae adnatae, modice crassae, sat confertae, angustae, pallide roseo-tinctae. Stipes 4-6 X 0.2-0.3 cm., candidus, sursum velutinosus, deorsum plus minus peronatus, byssino-striatus, guttulis glutinosis ornatus, solidus, cum pilei came con-tinuus, aequalis vel basin versus attenuatus, radicans. Sporae 6-7 X 4 µm. oblongae, tenuiter tunicatae, hyalinae, in cumulo albidae.

Typus: Stevenson 1347