Comments. The interesting colour combination of the pileus of this small but decorative fungus recalls certain flowers. It is further characterised by reddish lamellae and veil, and subglobose spores. Cortinarius cypripedii superficially resembles several other small, vividly coloured cortinars in the forests of New Zealand: Cortinarius viscilaetus Soop is viscid; Cortinarius palissandrinus Soop is more evenly coloured without an orange tinge; and Cortinarius ignellus presents paler pileal hues and a strong alkaline reaction. Available molecular data also show these taxa to be genetically disparate, while C. cypripedii is placed in the bihemispherical section Illumini Liimat. et al., which mainly contains red-brown taxa with subglobose spores.