Medium to large agaric, growing on the ground, with a rusty to ochre-brown spore print. Pileus yellow or brown with age, not viscid. Reaction to KOH on pileus deep red. Lamellae adnate, sinuate or notched or subdecurrent. Stipe central, yellow. Partial veil remnants a ring zone, with belts of tissue below that can be membranous (with the appearance of an annulus). Spores yellow-brown, warty (very finely so and can appear smooth); plage absent; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia present. Lamellar trama regular. Pileipellis a cutis. Clamp connections present.

The bright yellow colour of the pileus and stipe of fresh C. canarius is very distinctive and it can only be confused with some of the larger Gymnopilus, such as G. junonius (in clusters at the base of trees or stumps, spores distinctly warted) or with rare yellow forms of Cortinarius austrovenetus from Cortinarius subgenus Dermocybe (pileus typically green, spores distinctly warted). Other Cortinarius can have strong yellow colours, but the pileus at least is viscid (glutinous on pileus and stipe in C. sinapicolor, from Cortinarius subgenus Myxacium), or there are purple tints in the stipe flesh.

One species: Cortinarius canarius (= Dermocybe), keyed out separately due to the very finely ornamented spores that can appear smooth.

Cortinarius canarius (E.Horak) G.Garnier, Bibliographie des Cortinaires, A-C 106 (1991).

Vic. (rare) and Tas.

In native forests.

On the ground.

Ectomycorrhizal.

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

Horak, E. (1988b), New species of Dermocybe from New Zealand, New Zeland J. Bot. 40: 81–112. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of C. canarius (as D. canaria)]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [the illustration of C. canarius (as D. canaria) is more likely a very yellow form of C. austrovenetus]