new zealand: north L: taupo—Tongariro National Park, Whakapapanui Stream, on wood of dead Nothofagus solandri var. cliffortioides (Hook.f.) Poole, B.P. Segedin, 28. v. 1980, PDD 44961 (holotype of P. rattenburyi), Tongariro National Park, Whakapapaiti Stream, on N. solandri var. cliffortioides, B.P. Segedin 1957, 24. v. 1984; Tongariro National Park, Soda Springs track, on N. solandri var. cliffortioides, J.B. Taytor, 13. vi. 1971, PDD 29255. wellington—York Bay, on Nothofagus trunk, E.H. Atkinson. 26. vi. 1922, PDD 655; Levin, on tree lucerne stump, A.S. Wilkinson, G. Stevenson 874, K; Butterfly Creek, on fallen wood, J. McCan in Stevenson 323, 26. vi. 1948, K (holotype of P. purpureo-olivaceus). south i .: buller—Lake Daniels Tr„ on rotten N. menziesii, R.F.R. McNabb, 16. v. 1969, PDD 31357.

australia: tasmania—Mt Dromedary, on dead wood, Rodway Collection no. 146, HO.

Spores 6.5 - 9 x 4.5-5 (7.6 x 4.7)µm, hyaline, thin-walled, inamyloid, cylindrical-elliptic to slightly phaseoliform, collapsing easily. Basidia 37-40 x 6-8 µm, elongate-clavate, hyaline, sometimes with granular contents, 4-spored. Gill edge sterile; cheilocystidia crowded, varied in shape, cylindric-clavate, more strongly clavate to broadly lageniform, 25 x 3-7 µm, thin-walled, hyaline, all with conspicuous clamps at base; pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis a thick parallelocutis of distinctive incrusted to banded, clamped hyphae 4-7 µm diam., incrustations or bands deep purple-black in 3% KOH, congo red or Melzer's solution. Context just-below the pileipellis of sub-parallel, light brown (some incrusted), somewhat gelatinous hyphae 2-4 µm diam; rest of context hyaline, thin-walled interwoven hyphae 4-6 (-7) µm diam, with occasional oleiferous hyphae with cyanophilic contents. Lamellar trama similar to context but with scattered incrusted cells appearing dark blackish-brown in 3% KOH and Melzer's solution; subhymenium well-developed, pseudoparenchymatous.

Stipe surface densely covered with distinctive coralloid clusters of short caulocystidia 11-35 x 7 µm, hyaline, with large clamp connections; some cystidia with thickened walls, others with hair like extensions.