Summary:
Features include 1) an appendiculate, whitish, dry cap with flattened cinnamon-brown to chestnut or vinaceous brown fibrils which form scales and patches when old, 2) thick white flesh, 3) adnexed to adnate or notched, close, white gills with brown stains on the edges, 4) a stem that is white or pallid above the membranous ring, and fibrillose-scaly and cap-colored below the ring, 5) a fragrant or spicy cinnamon odor, and 6) a white spore deposit. |Else Vellinga wrote in 2009, "What has been called T. caligatum in several places, e.g. the darker species in western North America, is not the same as the European species of that name, and therefore is still without a valid name in these places." (Vellinga(14) Latin name in italics). Murata(1) in 2013 studied European Tricholoma caligatum and species related to matsutake. They found that specimens from British Columbia and California had rDNA ITS sequences that were very close to those of the type of T. dulciolens. |In western North America what has been called Tricholoma caligatum typically has dark fibrils, the spicy-cinnamon odor of Tricholoma murrillianum, and a mild taste, but in eastern North America it tends to be more cinnamon-colored with a mild, fruity, pungent, or disgusting odor and a bitter taste. It remains to be seen whether the eastern collections are the same species.

Gills:
"adnexed to adnate, rarely slightly decurrent", close; white developing brown stains on edges, (Arora), sinuate, close, thin; white, developing orange-brown spots when old, (Shanks), "adnate, close, narrow to moderately broad"; white, staining brown when old, (Phillips)

Stem:
4-9cm x 1-3cm, more or less equal, solid, firm; white or pallid above ring; fibrillose or scaly below ring with same colors as cap, (Arora), 8-12cm x 1-2cm, equal or narrowing towards base, solid; above the ring silky-fibrillose with faint belts of recurved fibrils, below the ring with belts or patches of appressed, dark brown fine scales over a cream to pale tan background, much like cap surface, fading to grayish brown when old, (Shanks)

Veil:
membranous, sheathing the stem, "forming a distinct flaring ring which collapses" when old, "underside colored like cap, upper surface white", (Arora), ring membranous, appressed or flaring upward, whitish becoming pale brown when old, (Shanks)

Odor:
Pacific Northwest collections often have an unpleasant odor, (Trudell), variable, in western North America typically has spicy-cinnamon odor of Tricholoma murrillianum, in eastern North American it is more apt to have mild to fruity to pungent or disgusting odor, (Arora), spicy, like cinnamon, (Shanks), in western North America usually fragrant, in eastern North America can be foul, (Phillips), "fruity to flowery but rather unpleasant", (Breitenbach for Europe)

Taste:
Pacific Northwest collections often have an unpleasant taste, (Trudell), "mild to nutty, bitter, or disagreeable", (Arora), extremely bitter, collections with pleasant taste may be a different, possibly undescribed taxon, (Shanks), in western North America usually mild, in eastern North America can be bitter, (Phillips), bitterish and somewhat unpleasant, (Breitenbach for Europe)

Microscopic spores:
spores 5-8 x 4-5.5 microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, (Arora), spores 5.3-7.2 x 4.3-6.2 microns, broadly elliptic to nearly round, smooth, inamyloid; basidia 4-spored, 28-32 x 6.24-7.2 microns, cylindric to clavate; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia absent; clamp connections absent, (Shanks)

Spore deposit:
white (Arora)

Notes:
Tricholoma caligatum is reported from BC by Kinugawa(1), and from WA in Ammirati(1). There are collections labeled as Tricholoma caligatum from BC and AB at the University of British Columbia. There are collections labeled as Tricholoma caligatum at the University of Washington from WA and AK. There are collections labeled as Tricholoma caligatum from OR at Oregon State University. It has been reported as T. caligatum from ID by Andrew Parker, pers. comm.

EDIBILITY

edible and the forms that are not disagreeable in taste or odor said to be as good as Tricholoma murrillianum, (Arora)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Tricholoma caligatum var. dulciolens (Kytov.) Bon Docums