Tricholoma muricatum

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

by Michael Kuo

Tricholoma muricatum is a large, West-Coast member of the Tricholoma pessundatum species group; like other members of the group it features a sticky, reddish brown cap, along with gills that develop cinnamon spots and discolorations. However, Tricholoma muricatum is limited to association with Monterey pine or Bishop pine—trees with limited ranges along the West Coast—and its physical features also separate it, including its large size, often-rooting stem base, ribbed cap margin, and, under the microscope, its narrow spores and encrusted pileipellis elements.

Description:

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with Monterey pine or Bishop pine; growing scattered or gregariously; fall and winter; West Coast. The illustrated and described collection is from California.

Cap: 5–15 cm; convex when young, becoming broadly convex when mature; sticky when fresh; bald; reddish brown, often with a paler margin; the margin becoming widely ribbed.

Gills: Attached to the stem by a notch; close; short-gills frequent; whitish to orangish beige; discoloring and spotting rusty brown with age, especially on the gill edges.

Stem: 4–6 cm long; 1.5–3 cm thick; more or less equal, or slightly swollen toward the base; base often tapered and rooting in the duff and soil; bald or finely silky; whitish above, dull reddish brown below.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced, or staining pinkish brown in the stem.

Odor and Taste: Odor mealy; taste bitter and mealy.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5–7 x 3.5–4 µm; ellipsoid; smooth; inamyloid; hyaline in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia not found. Pileipellis an ixocutis of cylindric elements 3–6 µm wide, smooth or finely encrusted in a KOH mount but encrusted in a water mount; reddish brown en masse in KOH. Clamp connections not found.

REFERENCES: K. Shanks, 1996. (Shanks, 1994; Trudell & Ammirati, 2009; Bessette et al., 2013; Desjardin, Wood & Stevens, 2015.) Herb. Kuo: 01131105.

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Spores

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2019, September). Tricholoma muricatum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/tricholoma_muricatum.html