Gomphidius roseus, commonly called the Rosy Spike, is a striking pink to rose-coloured agaric usually found in the company of Suillus bovinus, with which it is closely associated. Like its relatives, it is covered in a slimy veil when fresh, and the stem shows a faint, often fugitive ring zone. The gills are greyish, soon darkened by spores, and the base of the stem is tinged yellow. It occurs in coniferous forests, particularly under pine, where it fruitbodies in grass or needle litter.

Cap coral pink to rosy red, becoming brick-red with age. Convex when young, later flattening and sometimes with a small umbo. The surface is viscid when moist and smooth and shiny when dry. Flesh is whitish, firm, and sometimes tinged pink. Gills thick and deeply decurrent, whitish at first, gradually turning grey to mouse-grey with maturity and unchanging when bruised. Stem whitish to pinkish with a yellowish flush near the base, cylindrical or tapering towards the base, with an indistinct glutinous ring zone that often becomes darkened by spores. Spore print black to dark brownish-black.

Microscopic Features: Spores subfusiform, smooth, measuring 16–20 × 5–8 μm.

Note: In North America, Gomphidius roseus does not occur; instead, it is represented by a similar species, Gomphidius subroseus.

Gomphidius roseus on the www.first-nature.com web site.