Holotype (K): 'Levin, N.Z.; leg. Stevenson (568), 22.V.1949'. - Herb. HK. ZT 68/644: 'Kauaeranga Valley, Coromandel Peninsula, N.Z.; leg. Horak, 5.VII.1968'. - Herb. HK. ZT 68/209: 'Ikamatua, Grey Valley, Prov. Westcoast, N.Z.; leg. Horak, 22.III.1968'.

Pileus 10-35 mm diam., hemispherical becoming plano-convex to irregularly expanded, scarlet to deep red fading to orange-yellow, glabrous or (in aged carpophores) minutely fibrillose-squamulose, dry, occasionally margin of pileus striated. Lamellae broadly adnate to decurrent, blood red when young turning pale red or cream, rather thick, distant, gill edge concolorous. Stipe 25-70 x 2-5(6) mm, cylindric, equal, sometimes attenuated below, concolorous with pileus paler towards the base, longitudinally fibrillose, silky, dry, hollow, single or in clusters. Context deep red especially in the cortex of pileus and stipe. Taste and odor not distinctive. Chemical reactions on pileus: KOH - negative. Spores 7.5-10 x 4-6 µm, pyriform to ovoid, sometimes distinctly constricted, smooth, inamyloid. Basidia 45-65 x 6-8 µm, 4- and 2-spored. Cystidia absent. Cuticle a cutis consisting of suberect ends of the hyphae (5-10 µm diam.) forming the small squamules, membrane not gelatinized, conspicuous yellowish-red pigment dissolved in the cell sap present. Clamp connections numerous.

In soil under Dacrydium, Podocarpus, Nothofagus; Cyathea, etc. New Zealand.

Stevenson 1962: Fig. 2/9; Pl 6/6(? ).

Stevenson (1962: Pl. 6/8, not 6/6 which refers to Gl: bichromus Hk.!) gives an excellent picture of this characteristic species. The painting shows well the deep red layer beneath the cuticle and the upper portion of the stipe.