A grey snowbank mushroom of high-elevation conifer forests in western North America. Young caps are coated with a silvery-grey bloom that glistens in sunlight, and the species often pushes up through melting snow. It was long known as Lyophyllum montanum.
Edibility unknown; do not eat. Clitocybe contains species that cause muscarine poisoning, and grey snowbank mushrooms are hard to identify without a microscope.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Saprobic, scattered to clustered under montane conifers such as spruce and fir, near melting snowbanks, often emerging through the snow; late spring to early summer.
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Mountains of western North America: Wyoming (type locality, Medicine Bow Mountains), Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, California and Alberta.
Characteristics
Cap: 2-6.5 cm, convex to flattened; silvery-grey (canescent) when young, with a whitish bloom that may slough off, becoming yellow to yellow-brown with age. Gills: adnexed to adnate or nearly free, close, light grey becoming slightly darker grey. Stem: 2-7 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm thick, the base covered in white mycelial strands. Odor and taste: not distinctive (odor described as pleasant by some). Spore print: white. Spores: 5.5-7 x 3.5-4.5 um, smooth, elliptical, inamyloid (MykoWeb; Wikipedia).
