Pileus 2-7 cm diam., sordid white with greenish tinge to pale ochraceous, orbicular to reniform, smooth to velvety; flesh concolorous, tough gelatinous at first, drying to papery texture. Gills adnexed, sordid white, deep, moderately crowded, rather thick at first but drying thin, margins somewhat irregular. Stipe up to 0.5 x 1 cm, lateral, pale ochraceous, finely fibrillose; or absent. Spores 8-11 x 6-9 µm, non-amyloid, thick-walled, with sharp or blunt spines (Fig. 48). Hymenophoral trama more or less regular of thin-walled hyphae up to 10 µm diam. Cystidia occasional on gill faces. Cuticle of loosely woven more or less regular thin-walled hyphae.

On fallen timber, Levin, 22.5.1949, Stevenson; Keith George Park, Wellington, 30.5.1949, Stevenson; Lake Rotoiti, Nelson, 8.7.1949, A. Crawford; Waikanae, 27.7.1958,M. Davidson.

The different collections show considerable variation in the thickness of the spore-wall and the sharpness and the length of the spines. Pleurotus guilfoylei Berk., P. colensoi Berk. and P. scabriusculus Berk., the types of which have been examined at Kew, all have very similar spiny spores. More collections and studies of the fresh material are needed. The cystidia figured by Mr. D. A. Reid are occasionally present on the gill-faces in Lloyd's material, which was collected at Waikaremoana by H. Hill (no date), and also in some of the writer's collections, but they are not a striking feature of the gills as they are in the following genus.