Tricholoma murrillianum
pine mushroom
Tricholomataceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
pine mushroom
Tricholomataceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Photograph
Species Information
Summary:
Distinctive features are robust stature, whitish color when young, pale cinnamon to pinkish-brown or yellow-brown stains or fibrils or scales on cap and stem, a prominent membranous veil and ring, and a spicy dirty socks odor. The gills are adnate to adnexed or notched, and crowded. This species was known until 2017 under the name of the similar species Tricholoma magnivelare found in eastern North America. Tricholoma murrillianum is valuable for commercial harvesting and highly esteemed in Japan particularly. It is reported to associate with the myco-heterotrophic plant Allotropa virgata (candystick), (Trudell(2)).
Gills:
adnate to adnexed or notched, crowded; white, discoloring or spotted rusty brownish to cinnamon when old, (Arora), "adnexed, crowded, narrow to broad; whitish, staining pinkish-brown", (Phillips), scarcely sinuate, close to crowded, 0.8-1.2cm broad, thin; whitish to pale cream when young, "spotting and discoloring pale to orange brown in age", (Shanks)
Stem:
4-15cm x 1-5cm, equal or with narrowed base, tough, hard, solid; "white above the ring, usually scaly or fibrillose below and colored more or less like cap", (Arora), 5-15cm x 2-4cm, hard, firm; white becoming pinkish brown below ring from scales and patches of veil remnants, white and cottony above ring, (Phillips), 6-15cm x 2-4cm, equal or narrowing toward base, solid, very firm; white above the ring, discoloring like the gills in extreme age, colored much like cap below ring but becoming darker brown when old or with handling; dry, above the ring silky-fibrillose with belts of small recurved fibrils, below the ring much like the cap, the squamules never forming distinct belts, (Shanks)
Veil:
veil thick, membranous, sheathing the stem, white at first, forming prominent cottony ring that flares out at first, then collapses against stem when old, (Arora), thick soft membranous ring on upper stem, (Phillips), partial veil membranous, leaving remnants on the cap margin and a thick, cottony, persistent ring, the ring prominent and flaring upward at first, becoming appressed when old, (Shanks)
Odor:
distinctly spicy aromatic (cinnamon-spicy together with dirty socks), (Arora), distinctly fragrant (Phillips), spicy, like cinnamon, (Shanks), spicy with a sweet smell (Miller)
Taste:
mild (Shanks)
Microscopic spores:
spores 5-7 x 4.5-5.5 microns, broadly elliptic to nearly round, smooth, inamyloid, (Arora), spores 5.8-8.2 x 4.3-5.8 microns, broadly elliptic to elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 4-spored, 33-43 x 6.2-7.2 microns, clavate; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia absent; clamp connections absent, (Shanks)
Spore deposit:
white (Arora, Phillips)
Notes:
Tricholoma murrillianum has been found in at least in BC, WA, OR, ID, and CA based on records as Tricholoma magnivelare in Redhead(6).
EDIBILITY
choice (Arora, Phillips), a prized edible species harvested for commercial sale, (Shanks), there is a report of a young girl dying from an anaphylactic reaction to Tricholoma matsutake by Ichikawa et al.(2006), (Benjamin)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
The poisonous Amanita smithiana 1) has a different odor, 2) lacks large distinctive stem scales, 3) has a ring that is usually poorly developed or ragged, 4) has a shape that tends to be tall and thin rather than squat and robust, and 5) has softer flesh. |Tricholoma dulciolens tends to be smaller and less stocky, has darker brown cinnamon-brown to purple-brown fibrils on the cap and stem, may lack the spicy to fragrant odor, and often has an unpleasant taste. |Other mushrooms with a similar odor besides T. dulciolens are the matsutake of Japan, some specimens of Lentinus ponderosus (on wood), and Inocybe fraudans. |Catathelasma species have more grayish colors and lack the characteristic spicy odor. |Hygrophorus subalpinus, Russula brevipes, and Tricholoma apium are vaguely similar but all lack the characteristic spicy odor. |See also SIMILAR section of Catathelasma ventricosum and Tricholoma dulciolens.Habitat
"widely scattered to gregarious on ground in forests, thickets, and pine barrens", "In the mountains of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon it is common under mixed conifers and second-growth Douglas-fir, while on the coast it favors sandy pine forests", (also tanoak-madrone in coastal California), tends to occur in thickets of ericaceous shrubs (like manzanita, huckleberry and rhododendron), (Arora), "scattered to numerous under pine and in sandy soil, especially near coastal areas", August to November, in California December to February, (Phillips), single to gregarious with conifers, particularly in sandy soil, in coastal forests and montane regions, (Shanks), summer, fall, winter
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Tricholoma magnivelare (misapplied name)