Tricholoma vernaticum
Tricholoma vernaticum | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Fungi |
Division: | Basidiomycota |
Class: | Agaricomycetes |
Order: | Agaricales |
Family: | Tricholomataceae |
Genus: | Tricholoma |
Species: | T. vernaticum
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Binomial name | |
Tricholoma vernaticum Shanks (1996)
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Synonyms[1] | |
Tricholoma vernaticum | |
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Gills on hymenium | |
Cap is convex or flat | |
mycorrhizal | |
Edibility is unknown |
Tricholoma vernaticum is an agaric fungus of the genus Tricholoma native to the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The fungus was originally described in 1976 as a species of Armillaria when that genus was more inclusive; it received its current name twenty years later. The stout fruit bodies (mushrooms) have moist white to grayish caps (later becoming grayish-brown with age), a membranous ring on the stipe, and an odor resembling cucumbers. Mycorrhizal with conifers, the fungus fruits in the spring or early summer, with its mushrooms appearing on the ground singly or in groups at high elevations, often at the edge of melting snowbanks. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown, but it has a strong unpleasant odor and a mealy taste.
Taxonomy
The species was originally
Thiers and Sundberg used a broad
Tricholoma vernaticum is
Description
The cap is convex to broadly convex before flattening out in age, and reaches diameters between 5 and 17 cm (2 and 6.5 in) wide. The surface is dry to moist, smooth, and in maturity appears to be made of flattened fibers arranged radially. As the mushroom ages, the cap color changes from white to fuscous (dusky brownish grey) or brown, usually with olive, grayish or pale tan regions. The cap margin, initially curved downward, lifts up and becomes lobed or irregular with age. The flesh is thick and white, with a strongly farinaceous odor similar to cucumber or watermelon rind. Gills initially have an emarginate (notched) to adnate attachment to the stipe, but pull away as the mushroom matures to become seceding or almost free from attachment. They are thick and closely spaced, and whitish in color, sometimes developing pale pink tints. The solid stipe measures 4–14 cm (1.6–5.5 in) long by 1.3–4 cm (0.5–1.6 in) thick, and is either equal in width through its length or bulged at the base.[6] It has a dry surface, and a texture that is smooth to silky fibrillose above the ring, and appressed fibrillose to scaly below the ring. The ring, located in the middle to upper half of the stem, is sometimes inconspicuous. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown with certainty,[7] although it has been noted to have a strongly farinaceous taste, and an unpleasant odor "strongly reminiscent of rotting white potatoes."[2]
The
Similar species
When collected in its typical habitat and during the appropriate season, Tricholoma vernaticum mushrooms can be readily identified because of their prominent characteristics: white color, stocky fruit body, farinaceous odor, and ring on the stipe. Tricholoma lookalikes in the same geographic region grow at lower elevations, typically in autumn. T. portentosum has a gray cap, a stipe with yellow tints, and lacks a ring, while T. mutabile has violet tones in its cap and also lacks a ring. Other lookalikes include Hygrophorus subalpinus and H. camarophyllus, but these species have broad, waxy gills, and lack the characteristic odor of T. vernaticum.[7]
Habitat and distribution
Fruit bodies of Tricholoma vernaticum grow singly or in groups under conifers in late spring and early summer. A fairly common species throughout its range, it is found at high elevations in California north to Oregon and Washington.[7] It is a snowbank fungus, meaning it is commonly found at the edge of melting snowbanks.[6] Fruit bodies are often buried under humus,[2] forming hardly visible "mushrumps", apparent only as cracked bumps on the ground.[7]
See also
- List of North American Tricholoma
- List of Tricholoma species
References
- ^ "Tricholoma vernaticum Shanks, Mycologia, 88 (3): 508, 1996". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2013-09-12.
- ^ JSTOR 41413984.
- ^ Velenovský J. (1920). České houby. Vol. 2. Prague: České Botanické Společnosti. p. 241.
- ^ JSTOR 3760890.
- ISBN 978-0-521-86645-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-520-95360-4.
- ^ a b c d e Bessette AE, Bessette AR, Trudell SA, Roody WC (2013). Tricholomas of North America: A Mushroom Field Guide. Austin: University of Texas Press. pp. 170–1.