Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Tricholoma > Tricholoma argyraceum

MushroomExpert.Com

Tricholoma argyraceum

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Tricholoma . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Tricholoma argyraceum features a radially fibrillose, brownish gray cap, a mealy odor, a cortina-like veil in very young specimens—and, under the microscope, very narrow spores. It is generally associated with hardwoods, and may be very difficult to separate from Tricholoma scalpturatum and Tricholoma inocybeoides, both of which are nearly identical to the naked eye. The former, however, has wider, more ellipsoid spores, while the latter has a less well-developed cortina, along with slightly larger spores. These species concepts are European, but I am applying them to North American tricholomas in order to provide at least a little focus and avoid calling everything remotely similar "Tricholoma scalpturatum."

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; late spring and summer; Europe; North American distribution uncertain, but recorded from Midwestern and eastern hardwood forests and from cottonwood riverbottoms in western mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois.

Cap: 2.5–6.5 cm across; at first convex with a central bump, becoming broadly convex to broadly bell-shaped; dry; finely radially appressed-fibrillose, becoming finely scaly in places; brownish gray to grayish brown; margin finely woolly; when young with a whitish cortina between the margin and the stem.

Gills: Attached to the stem by a notch; close; short-gills frequent; white; sometimes staining or discoloring yellow with age, especially toward the cap margin; in very young specimens often covered by a whitish cortina.

Stem: 2–4 cm long; 0.5–1.5 cm thick; equal, or slightly tapered to the base; bald or finely silky; often with a faint ring zone; dry; white.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Mealy.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 3–5 x 2–2.5 µm; elongated-ellipsoid to subcylindric, with a small apiculus; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Lamellar trama parallel. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Cystidia not found. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 4–8 µm wide, smooth, hyaline to yellowish in KOH. Clamp connections not found.


REFERENCES: (Bulliard, 1789) Gillet, 1874. (Christensen & Heilmann-Clausen, 2013; Cripps, Evenson & Kuo, 2016; Heilmann-Clausen et al., 2017.) Herb. Kuo 05061206, 06061505.


This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.


 

Tricholoma argyraceum

Tricholoma argyraceum

Tricholoma argyraceum
Cortina

Tricholoma argyraceum
Spores



© MushroomExpert.Com




Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2019, November). Tricholoma argyraceum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tricholoma_argyraceum.html