Holotype (PDD 27084); Isotype (Herb. HK. ZT 69/138): 'Track to Mt. Anglem, Xmas Village, Stewart Island, N.Z.; leg. Horak, 15.III.1969'.

Pileus 6-18 mm diam., hemispherical when young becoming convex or campanulate, deep orange or apricot, glabrous, dry, slightly striated, not hygrophanous. Lamellae broadly adnate or decurrent with short tooth, light, apricot when young later turning deep orange, moderately distant, frequently anastomosing, gill edge concolorous, even. Stipe 10-25 x 1-2 mm, cylindric, equal, coloured like pileus, apex pruinate, towards the base with appressed fibrils, fistulose, dry, single: Context orange. Taste and odor not distinctive. Chemical reactions: on pileus: KOH, HCl and NH3 - negative. Spores 45 x 2-2.5 µm (5-6 x 3-3.5 µm borne on 2-spored basidia), ovoid or ellipsoid, smooth, inamyloid. Basidia 32-35 x 4-5 µm, 4 and 2-spored. Cystidia absent. Cuticle a cutis of repent, cylindric hyphae (4-8 µm diam.), membrane not gelatinized but encrusted with pigment. Clamp connections numerous.

On soil amongst mosses and litter of Weinmannia, Metrosideros, Senecio, Olearia, etc. New Zealand.

Pileo 6-18 mm lato, ex hemisphaerico convexo vel campanulato, aurantiaco, glabro, sicco, substriato. Lamellis adnatis vel subdecurrentibus aurantiacis. Stipite 10-25 x 1-2 mm, cylindrico, pileo concolori vel pallidiori, sicco, apicaliter pruinoso basim versus minute fibrilloso. Sporis 4-5 x 2-2.5 µm, ovoideis. Cystidiis nullis. Epicute ex hyphis repentibus, pigmento incrustatis cutem formantibus, septis fibulatis. Ad terram in silvis. Novazelandia.

In habit, this species resembles H. aurantius Murrill ss. Stevenson (1962: 382). However, the two taxa are easily distinguished by virtue of the size and shape of their spores (see also C delicatus Hk.).

Holotypus (PDD 27084) Mt. Anglem, Stewart Island, N.Z.; leg. Horak, 15.III.1969'.

SPECIMEN: NZ: NA, Waitakere Ranges, Lucy Cranwell Track, ZT 744, 746, 1541; Waitakere Ranges, Mill Bay, ZT 1015.-WL, Ngahere, Kopara, Lake Ahaura, ZT 68/140.

Pileus -20 mm, hemispherical to convex, with strongly incurved margin in young specimens, becoming plano-convex or obtusely campanulate; brilliant orange (often with brick-red or carrot-orange tinge), fading to apricot or pale yellow, dry, glabrous, scarcely hygrophanous, substriate at margin. - lamellae -12 (1 -3) broadly adnate-decurrent or arcuate; concolorous with pileus or paler, edges entire, occasionally anastomosing. - Stipe 10-30 x 1-2.5 mm, cylindrical, equal or gradually attenuating towards base; concolorous with pileus or paler (especially towards base); dry, glabrous to minutely fibrillose, solid becoming fistulose, single (or caespitose). - Context orange. - (Odour and taste not distinctive. - Chemical reactions on pileus: KOH, HCl and NH₃ - negative. Spores 3-5 x (2.5-) 3-4 um, drop-shaped, occasionally ovoid, apiculus distinctly enlarged at base. – Basidia 20-35 x 4-6 um, 4-spored (rarely 2-spored with spores 5-6 x 3-3.5 um). - Cystidia absent - Pileipellis a cutis of interwoven, cylindrical hyphae (4-8 um diam.), membrane not gelatinised, encrusted with pigment; clamp connections present (PL 1, Fig.5).

DISTRIBUTION: NZ (NA, WL, STI).

ECOLOGY: Scattered (but locally common); saprobic on soil in mixed broadleaved-conifer forests (Leptospermum, Nothofagus, Weinmannia, Metrosideros). March-June.

ICON.: Horak (1973: 146).

Colour, size, and shape of the basidiomes are as in C. aurantiopallens Horak which also shares its habitat with C. apricosus (Horak). The two similar taxa however, are readily distinguished by the shape and size of the spores.

TYPE: NZ: STI, between Christmas Village and Mt Anglem, under Senecio, Metrosideros, and Weinmannia, 15 iii 1969, Horak, PDD 27084.

Pileus 0.5-1.5 cm. diam., apricot, hemispherical to flattened, matt; flesh apricot. Gills slightly decurrent, yellow to apricot, moderately thick, moderately distant, rather shallow, occasionally forking with venose folds, between. Stipe 2-4 cm. X 2-3 mm., pale apricot, smooth to silky fibrillose, solid, rather brittle. Spores 5 X 5-6 µm. hyaline

habitat: terrestrial under scrub and on clay banks, Wellington Botanic Garden, 26.3.1949) & 1.7.1949, Stevenson, Rotoiti, 16,5.19561 E. Kidson, Keith George Park, 30.5.1958, Stevenson; Otari, 7.6.1958, Stevenson; Levin, 22.6. 1958, Stevenson.

This small apricot-coloured species with small globose spores seems fairly common in New Zealand, though it is little known in America beyond its original description from Florida. It has also been found in Japan (Imazeki & Hongo, 1957).