Medium to very large agaric, growing on the ground, with a rusty to ochre-brown spore print. Pileus to 300 mm diam., white or pale, smooth, viscid at first, but soon dry. Lamellae adnate, sinuate or notched, subdecurrent or at length appearing decurrent, at maturity cinnamon to rusty brown. Stipe central. Partial veil remnants a membranous annulus (upper surface coloured by spore deposit) and below with several ragged zones girdling the stipe. Spores yellow-brown, finely warty; plage absent; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia absent. Lamellar trama regular. Pileipellis a cutis; outer hyphae gelatinised. Clamp connections present.

In Cortinarius this species is very distinctive because of its massive size, and the membranous partial veil. Other species of Cortinarius with a well-developed membranous annulus are keyed out separately as Cortinarius morphogroup Rozites. They are smaller and have a brown, pink, purple or blue pileus, which is often viscid or glutinous. Some species of Tricholoma and Amanita have a large, white or pale pileus and an annulus, but they differ in the white spore print and smooth spores.

One species: Cortinarius australiensis (= Rozites), keyed out separately due to its massive size and membranous annulus.

Cortinarius australiensis (Cleland & Cheel) E.Horak, Sydowia 34: 106 (1981).

W.A., S.A., Qld, N.S.W., Vic. and Tas. (and possibly also N.T.). Also N.Z.

In native forests.

On the ground.

Ectomycorrhizal.

Bougher, N.L. & Syme, K. (1998), Fungi of Southern Australia. University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands. [Description, Illustration and Microcharacters of C. australiensis]

Fuhrer, B. (2005), A Field Guide to Australian Fungi. Bloomings Books, Hawthorn. [Description and Illustration of C. australiensis]

Gasparini, B. (2007b), Genus Cortinarius, subgenus Phlegmacium in Tasmania, New Zealand J. Bot. 45: 155–236.[B&W Illustration, Description and Microcharacters of C. australiensis]

Grgurinovic, C.A. (1997a), Larger Fungi of South Australia. The Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium and The Flora and Fauna of South Australia Handbooks Committee, Adelaide. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of C. australiensis]

Horak, E. (1981a), Notes on taxonomy and biogeography of Rozites Karsten, Sydowia 34: 94–108.

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of C. australiensis]

Shepherd, C.J. & Totterdell, C.J. (1988), Mushrooms and Toadstools of Australia. Inkata Press, Melbourne. [Illustration of C. australiensis]

Young, A.M. (2005b), A Field Guide to the Fungi of Australia. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney. [Description and B&W Illustration of C. australiensis]