Medium to large agaric, growing on the ground, with a rusty to ochre-brown spore print. Pileus white, pale, yellow, orange, brown, red or pink, green, purple or blue, viscid or glutinous. Lamellae adnate, sinuate or notched, subdecurrent, rarely adnexed. Stipe central, viscid or glutinous. Partial veil arachnoid or slimy, leaving a ring zone or a membranous annulus, or rarely without traces. Spores yellow-brown, warty; plage absent; germ pore absent. Cheilocystidia mostly absent. Lamellar trama regular. Pileipellis usually a cutis, rarely a trichoderm; hyphae gelatinised. Clamp connections present.

Some species of Cortinarius morphogroup Rozites have similar colours and a glutinous pileus, but the stipe is not glutinous. Species of Stropharia with a glutinous pileus and stipe grow on dung and have a purple-brown or black spore print. In Limacella the pileus and stipe are viscid or glutinous, but the spore print is white, and lamellae are white or pale. If the pileus and stipe have dried out, species of subgenus Myxacium cannot be distinguished from other Cortinarius, but attached leaves and debris can indicate that the pileus was viscid or glutinous when fresh, and microscopic examination of the pileipellis will show that it is gelatinised.

Cortinarius subgenus Myxacium (Fr.) Trog, Ver. Schweiz. Schwämme 26 (1844).

About ten described species: Cortinarius aff. alboviolaceus (pileus and stipe pale lilac, with droplets on upper stipe), C. archeri (robust, deep purple pileus), C. austroalbidus (white pileus, odour of curry), C. austrocausticus, C. bundarus, C. erythraeus (red pileus), C. elatostipitatus, C. fiveashianus, C. lacteus, C. madidus, C. microarcheri, C. pseudorotundisporus, C. quaresimalis, C. rotundisporus (blue pileus, soon changing to yellow-brown in centre; = C. austroevernius and C. oleaginus), C. sinapicolor (bright orange yellow pileus and stipe), C. subarcheri, C. subarvinaceus and C. submagellanicus. Some undescribed species, particularly in cool-temperate rainforest.

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

In native forests.

On the ground.

Ectomycorrhizal.

Bougher, N.L. (2009a), Fungi of the Perth region and beyond: a self-managed field book, Western Australian Naturalists' Club (Inc.), Perth. [Description and Illustration of C. archeri, C. microarcheri and C. sinapicolor]

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

Fuhrer, B. (2005), A Field Guide to Australian Fungi. Bloomings Books, Hawthorn. [Description and Illustration of C. aff. alboviolaceus, C. archeri, C. austroalbidus, C. erythraeus, C. rotundisporus and C. sinapicolor]

Gasparini, B. (2007b), Genus Cortinarius, subgenus Phlegmacium in Tasmania, New Zealand J. Bot. 45: 155–236 [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of some species that morphologically belong to subgenus Myxacium: C. archeri, C. austroalbidus, C. austrocausticus, C. elatostipitatus, C. lacteus, C. madidus, C. pseudorotundisporus, C. quaresimalis, C. rotundisporus, C. sinapicolor and C. submagellanicus]

Gasparini, B. & Soop, K. (2008), Contribution to the knowledge of Cortinarius [Agaricales, Cortinariaceae] of Tasmania (Australia) and New Zealand, Australas. Mycol. 27: 173–203. [Description, Microcharacters and Illustration of C. pseudorotundisporus]

Grey, P. & Grey, E. (2005), Fungi Down Under. Fungimap, South Yarra. [Description, Illustration and Map for C. austroalbidus and C. rotundisporus]

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. [Key to South Australian species, and Description and Microcharacters of C. archeri, C. austroalbidus, C. bundarus, C. erythraeus, C. fiveashianus, C. microarcheri, C. sinapicolor, C. rotundisporus (also as C. austroevernius and C. oleaginus), C. subarcheri and C. subarvinaceus, and Illustration of C. archeri, C. erythraeus, C. fiveashianus and C. rotundisporus (and as C. austroevernius and C. oleaginus)]

Horak, E. & Wood, A.E. (1990), Cortinarius Fr. (Agaricales) in Australasia. 1. Subgen. Myxacium and subgen. Paramyxacium, Sydowia 42: 88–168. [Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of C. archeri, C. erythraeus, C. microarcheri, C. rotundisporus and C. sinapicolor, and Description, B&W Illustration and Microcharacters of C. austroalbidus, C. ochraceus, C. subarcheri (considered a 'doubtful' species) and C. subarvinaceus]

McCann, I.R. (2003), Australian Fungi Illustrated. Macdown Productions, Vermont. [Illustration of C. aff. alboviolaceus, C. archeri, C. austroalbidus, C. erythraeus, C. rotundisporus and C. sinapicolor]

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