Summary:
{See also Tricholoma with coal tar odor Table.} Tricholoma sulphurescens is characterized by 1) a dry, whitish cap and stem that develop yellow to orange yellow to ocher-yellow patches when touched or as it ages, 2) crowded white gills that may become yellowish or spot yellowish, and 3) an odor variously described as fruity or coconut, slightly farinaceous to cucumber-like, stinking, or unpleasant like coal tar. The gills are notched, close, and narrow, and white when young becoming cream to yellowish.

Cap:
5-9(12)cm across, more or less hemispheric when young becoming convex to flat, undulating when old, margin incurved for a long time but uplifted when old; "white when young, soon cream-yellow with yellow to yellow-orange patches"; slightly lubricous when moist, dull, finely silky-tomentose, splitting when dry, (Breitenbach), 5-12cm across, hemispheric to convex when young, becoming nearly flat, sometimes with umbo; "white at first, becoming creamy white, staining yellow to dull yellow when bruised or in age", (Bessette(2)), up to 13cm across, convex; white, yellowing markedly (chrome yellow, finally bright ocher-yellow), (Courtecuisse), 5-8cm across, whitish-leather pale, with ochraceous spots; silky-bald, (Moser)

Flesh:
thick; white, (Breitenbach), white (Bessette(2)), when broken turns sulphur yellowish, (Moser)

Gills:
notched, 104-110 reach stem, narrow, 5-11(13) subgills between neighboring gills; "white when young, later cream-colored to yellowish, spotting yellow toward the margin and where injured"; edges undulating, (Breitenbach), "attached or notched, close"; "white to creamy white, becoming yellowish", especially near the edges when old, (Bessette(2)), almost free; white, (Moser)

Stem:
4-7(10) x 1-1.5cm, equal to slightly club-shaped and somewhat rooting, solid, firm-fleshed; "white when young, later cream-yellow, spotting yellow where touched"; longitudinally fibrillose, somewhat floccose toward base, "base with cream-colored to yellowish mycelium", (Breitenbach), 3-10cm x 1-2cm, club-shaped when young, becoming nearly equal; white becoming creamy white to yellow, staining yellow when bruised or when old; "dry, smooth to somewhat fibrillose", (Bessette(2)), up to 10cm long and 1.5cm wide, white, yellowing less than cap, (Courtecuisse), white, lower part foxy-punctate-scaly, base yellowish, (Moser)

Odor:
fruity with a faint coconut component, stinking or stinking when old, slightly sulphurous, slightly farinaceous to cucumber-like and later fruity, (Breitenbach, from various authors), "pungent, disagreeable, like coal tar (sometimes faint)", (Bessette(2)), fruity-nauseating (Courtecuisse), not unpleasant at first whiff, but builds to be sharp, penetrating, and unpleasant, (A. Parker, pers. comm.)

Taste:
nutty, slightly peppery, (Breitenbach), not distinctive (Bessette(2)), slightly peppery (Courtecuisse), mild to somewhat acrid (Bessette(5))

Microscopic spores:
spores 5-6.2 x 4-5 microns, broadly elliptic to nearly round, smooth, with droplets; basidia 4-spored, 28-35 x 7-8 microns, clavate, some with basal clamp connection; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia not seen; cap cuticle of +/- parallel hyphae 3-8 microns wide, occasional hyphal ends exserted, only occasional septa with clamps, (Breitenbach), spores 4.5-6 x 3.5-5 microns, elliptic to nearly round, smooth, (Bessette(2)), spores 5-7 x 4-5 microns (Bessette(5))

Spore deposit:
white (Breitenbach, Bessette(2))

Notes:
There are collections from BC and AB at the University of British Columbia. It has been reported from WA by Andrew Parker, pers. comm. Bessette(5) show photographs from WA, ID, FL, and MN. The University of Washington has collections from WA, AK, and WY.

EDIBILITY

unknown (Bessette(2))

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Tricholoma impolitum (Lasch: Fr.) Ricken sensu Ricken