Tricholoma portentosum

The species was originally described as Agaricus portentosus by Elias Magnus Fries in 1821, before being placed in the genus Tricholoma by Lucien Quélet in 1872. At least three varieties have been described: var. album has an all white cap, var. lugdunense has a paler cap, and var. boutevillei has a very dark cap and is the form which grows with oak and beech.

The genus name Tricholoma comes from the Ancient Greek θρίξ (trix), τριχός (trichos), "hair", and λῶμα (lôma), "fringe", and refers to the fibrils on the caps of many species of the genus.{{Cite book|language=fr|author-first=D. |author-last=Borgarino|author-first2=C. |author-last2=Hurtado|title=Le guide des champignons en 900 photos et fiches|location=Aix-en-Provence|year=2006|isbn=978-2-7449-0917-7}} The species epithet, portentosum, comes from the Latin portentosus, meaning marvellous or prodigious, and describes its taste.{{Cite book|language=it|author-first=Roberto|author-last=Galli|title=I Tricolomi. Atlante pratico-monografico per la determinazione del genere Tricholoma (Fr.) Staude.|editor=Edinatura|location=Milano|date=1999}}

File:Tricholoma portentosum35.JPG

It is a large, imposing mushroom, with a convex cap {{convert|3|–|11|cm|in|round=0.5|abbr=on}} in diameter with a boss. The cap is sticky when wet and has an irregularly lobed margin. It is dark grey in colour with darker grey to blackish streaks perpendicular to the margins. The grey colour fades towards the margins and may be tinged with yellow or purple. The crowded adnate gills are white, and the solid stipe is white with a yellow tinge at the top. It measures {{convert|3.5|–|12|cm|in|abbr=on}} high and {{convert|1|–|3|cm|in|1|abbr=on}} wide. The spore print is white.

It has a farinaceous smell and taste. Older specimens are often eaten by slugs, and the stem is recommended to be removed before cooking. It can be pickled.

The fruit bodies appear in late autumn in coniferous woodland in Europe and North America. Ectomycorrhizal, it is most commonly associated with Pinus sylvestris, but also sometimes oak (Quercus) or beech (Fagus) on sandy soils. It has been declining since the 1980s in the Netherlands and is now rare there, and uncommon in Britain but is common in France where it is sometime seen in wild mushroom markets.

Generally highly regarded as an edible mushroom,{{cite book |last=Phillips |first=Roger |title=Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America |url=https://archive.org/details/mushroomsotherfu0000phil |url-access=registration |year=2010 |publisher=Firefly Books |location=Buffalo, NY |isbn=978-1-55407-651-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mushroomsotherfu0000phil/page/50 50]}} it is not recommended by some for its similarity to hazardous species. The inedible Tricholoma virgatum has a silvery-grey cap and grows in mixed woodland, and smells of damp earth and has a bitter taste. The poisonous Tricholoma pardinum has prominent grey scales giving the cap a shaggy or striped appearance.

Tricholoma portentosum is a holarctic species, and, according to a 2017 study, has the same genetic profile on the three continents on which it is found.{{Cite journal |last1=Heilmann-Clausen |first1=J. |last2=Christensen |first2=M. |last3=Frøslev |first3=T. G. |last4=Kjøller |first4=R. |date=Jun 2017 |title=Taxonomy of Tricholoma in northern Europe based on ITS sequence data and morphological characters |journal=Persoonia |volume=38 |pages=38–57 |doi=10.3767/003158517X693174 |issn=0031-5850 |pmc=5645187 |pmid=29151626}} In Western Europe, it remains common in Scotland,Geoffrey Kibby, "The genus Tricholoma in Britain", Field Mycology, vol. 11, n^o 4, November 2010, p. 113-140. France,{{Cite book |last=Courtecuisse |first=Régis,. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/879649455 |title=Champignons de France et d'Europe |date=2013 |publisher=Delachaux et Niestlé |others=Bernard,. Duhem |isbn=978-2-603-02038-8 |location=Paris |oclc=879649455}} the Northern Iberian Peninsula,{{Cite journal |last1=Dı́ez |first1=V. A |last2=Alvarez |first2=A |date=2001-12-01 |title=Compositional and nutritional studies on two wild edible mushrooms from northwest Spain |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814601002291 |journal=Food Chemistry|volume=75 |issue=4 |pages=417–422 |doi=10.1016/S0308-8146(01)00229-1 |issn=0308-8146}} and Italy.{{Cite book |last=Riva |first=Alfredo |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/173845217 |title=Tricholoma (Fr.) Staude |date=2003 |publisher=Candusso |isbn=88-901057-1-2 |location=Alassio, Italy |oclc=173845217}} It is equally common in Central Europe, specifically Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia,{{Cite book |last=Boa |first=E. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nHzqTTGbaUC |title=Champignons comestibles sauvages: vue d'ensemble sur leurs utilisations et leur importance pour les populations |date=2006 |publisher=Food & Agriculture Org. |isbn=978-92-5-205157-2 |language=fr}} and in Eastern Europe, where it is found in Estonia,{{Cite web |last=Kalamees |first=K. |date=2010 |title=Checklist of the species of the genus Tricholomopsis (Agaricales, Agaricomycetes) in Estonia |url=https://eseis.ut.ee/ial5/fce/fce47pdf/fce47_kalamees.pdf |access-date=2023-09-13}} Belarus, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia. In North America, it is common in the east,{{Citation |last=Trudell |first=Steve |title=The Genus Tricholoma in North America |url=https://www.fungimag.com/winter-2013-articles/TricholomaFixed013113LR.pdf |work=Fungi |year=2013}} notably in Quebec,{{Cite web |title=Les champignons du Québec |url=https://www.mycoquebec.org/ |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=www.mycoquebec.org}} New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and in Connecticut.{{Cite journal |last=Webster |first=H. |title=Tricholoma Portentosum |date=1900 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23293786 |journal=Rhodora |volume=2 |issue=24 |pages=243–246 |jstor=23293786 |issn=0035-4902}} In Asia, it is well represented in Russia, Kyrgyzstan, China, and Japan.{{Cite journal |last1=Yamada |first1=Akiyoshi |last2=Kobayashi |first2=Hisayasu |last3=Ogura |first3=Takeo |last4=Fukuda |first4=Masaki |date=2007-04-01 |title=Sustainable fruit-body formation of edible mycorrhizal Tricholoma species for 3 years in open pot culture with pine seedling hosts |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1340354007703613 |journal=Mycoscience|volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=104–108 |doi=10.1007/S10267-006-0338-0 |s2cid=54586506 |issn=1340-3540}}

• List of North American Tricholoma
• List of Tricholoma species

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web|url=http://www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/library/english-names/new-english-names/|title=Proposed English names June 2010|year=2010|publisher=British Mycological Society|access-date=25 September 2011}}

{{cite book |author=Fries, Elias Magnus |title=Systema Mycologicum |volume=1 |year=1821 |page=39 |publisher=Ex Officina Berlingiana |location=Lundin, Sweden |url=https://archive.org/stream/systemamycologi03friegoog#page/n102/mode/2up |language=Latin}}

{{cite journal |author=Kalamees, Kuulo |year=2010 |title=Checklist of the species of the genus Tricholoma (Agaricales, Agaricomycetes) in Estonia |journal= Folia Cryptogamica Estonica |volume=47 |pages=27–36 |url=http://www.ut.ee/ial5/fce/fce47pdf/fce47_kalamees.pdf }}

{{cite book |author1=Lamaison, Jean-Louis |author2=Polese, Jean-Marie |title=The Great Encyclopedia of Mushrooms |year=2005 |publisher=Könemann |isbn=3-8331-1239-5 |page=88}}

{{cite book|author1=McKnight, Kent H. |author2=McKnight, Vera B. |author3=Peterson, Roger Tory |title=A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1998 |isbn=0-395-91090-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSdA3V7Z9WcC&pg=PA189}}

{{cite book|author=Mishra, S.R. |title=Morphology of Fungi |page=111 |publisher=Discovery Publishing House |year=2005 |isbn=81-7141-980-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReD9P6xMJVwC&pg=PA111}}

{{cite book |author1=Noordeloos M.E. |author2=Kuyper, Th.W. |author3=Vellinga, E.C. |title=Flora Agaricina Neerlandica |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1999 |page=116 |isbn=90-5410-493-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ablJJike0eYC&pg=PA116}}

{{cite book |author1=Nilson, Sven |author2=Persson, Olle |year=1977 |title=Fungi of Northern Europe 2: Gill-Fungi |publisher=Penguin |isbn=0-14-063006-6 |page=30}}

{{cite book |author=Phillips, Roger |year=2006 |title=Mushrooms |publisher=Pan MacMillan |isbn=0-330-44237-6 |page=107}}

{{cite journal |author=Quélet, Lucien |title=Les champignons du Jura et des Vosges. IIe Partie |journal=Mémoires de la Société d'Émulation de Montbéliard |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=333–427 |language=French}}

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portentosum

Category:Edible fungi

Category:Fungi of Europe

Category:Fungi of North America

Category:Fungi described in 1821

Category:Taxa named by Elias Magnus Fries

Category:Fungus species