A plain, medium to large white woodwax of oak forests with a slimy cap that often has dirt stuck to it, which gives the species its name. It lacks a slimy stem veil, distinctive odor or color changes. It is mainly an eastern North American species.
Edibility not documented in the sources consulted; not recommended. Look-alikes: White Amanita species, including the deadly destroying angels (amatoxins), can look similar from above; Amanitas have free gills, a skirt-like ring and a sac-like volva at the stem base, whereas this species has thick, waxy, attached-to-decurrent gills and no volva.
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Habitat
Ectomycorrhizal with oaks; in groups in oak-hickory forests; summer and fall. California reports are under coast live oak.
Distribution
Fairly widespread in eastern North American oak-hickory forests. Reports from California (and herbarium records from British Columbia and Oregon) need caution; the robust California form may be a separate species (MushroomExpert).
Characteristics
Cap: 5-10 cm, convex becoming nearly flat; slimy, smooth, white, sometimes dingy yellowish at the center with age. Gills: attached to slightly decurrent, nearly distant, white, sometimes slightly yellowish. Stem: 5-8 cm long, up to 2 cm thick, tapered at the base, dry, whitish, slightly browning where handled. Flesh: white, unchanging. Odor and taste: not distinctive. Chemical reaction: KOH negative on the cap. Spore print: white. Spores: 6-8 x 4-5.5 um, ellipsoid, smooth, inamyloid (MushroomExpert).
