Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Tricholoma dulciolens

Tricholoma dulciolens Kytöv.

Gregarious (4) among mosses, associated with Picea rubra and Abies balsamea in an old-growth forest with large trees – Lepreau, New Brunswick (06-10-18/02).

Basidiospores white in spore print, broadly ellipsoidal, smooth, without colour changes in Melzer’s Solution, 5.0-6.8 x 4.1-5.0 μm, Q = 1.13-1.53 (average[30]: 5.6 x 4.5 μm, Q = 1.23). Basidia clavate, 4-spored, without a basal clamp connection. Hymenial cystidia lacking. Pileipellis a narrow cutis, composed of smooth hyphae with an intracellular pigment, without clamp connections, with subcutis not greatly differentiated from the pilear trama. Clamp connections lacking on all hyphae of the basidiomata.

Tricholoma dulciolens is one of the "matsutake" group of mushrooms, characterized by their dull whitish to brownish colours, strong aromatic odours and growth with pines or other conifers. Although most associate with pines, T. dulciolens appears to be found only under spruce. So far it is known in our region only in the moist "perhumid" forests along the Bay of Fundy, but it has also been recorded in similar habitats in Newfoundland and Quebec. Tricholoma magnivelare is a another member of the "matsutake" group with a similar aromatic odour found in pine forests in eastern North America.

Photograph: D. Malloch (09-10-18/01).