Slippery jack or Copper spike

Cap 4–12 cm across, convex in young mushrooms, later flattened-convex. The surface is covered with a thick layer of slime — especially in wet weather. Color chocolate-brown or chestnut, yellowish brown when dry. The margin often bears remnants of the partial veil.

Cap 4-10 cm across; hemispherical with an inrolled margin when young, later convex with a low central bump. Color coppery reddish brown, brick-colored, with a violet-wine tint, darker and richer when young, fading to brownish ochre with age. Surface slightly slimy in wet weather, dry in dry weather; the skin peels off.

The hymenophore has tubes. Pores yellow, small, regular, turning yellow-green with age. The tubes are attached to the stem or run slightly down it. When pressed, the pores turn slightly brownish.

Gilled hymenophore; gills decurrent, distant, waxy, thick. In young mushrooms yellowish to ochre, later darkening to gray-violet-black because of the dark spore print. Spore print dark brown to black. Decurrent gills plus darkening are the diagnostic features of the genus Chroogomphus / Gomphidius.

Stem 5–10 cm tall, 1–2 cm thick, solid, cylindrical. Yellow and granular in the upper part, brown or violet-brownish below the ring. A characteristic purple-brown membranous ring — a remnant of the partial veil and one of the key diagnostic features of the species.

Stem 5-10 cm tall, 1-2 cm thick, thick, fleshy, tapering to a point at the bottom (narrowed at the base). Color yellow-ochre in the upper part, coppery red lower down, matching the cap. Surface with fine lengthwise fibers. A ring zone from the veil in the upper part, faint; may disappear in old mushrooms.

Flesh yellowish or pale cream, firm in young mushrooms, softer in mature ones. Turns slightly pink when cut or stays unchanged. The taste is mild, pleasant, slightly sourish. The cap skin peels off easily together with the slime.

Flesh fleshy, yellow-ochre in the cap, coppery red in the lower stem. When cut it darkens to violet or wine-red: this is a normal reaction of the species, not a sign of poison. Smell faint, pleasantly mushroomy.

Smell pleasant, unobtrusively mushroomy, slightly resinous — reflecting its symbiosis with pine. With cooking the aroma intensifies and becomes more pronounced. No foreign unpleasant notes.

Faint, pleasantly mushroomy, with no distinctive notes.