A robust, booted Tricholoma with a cap covered in chestnut to dark brown fibrous scales and a stem banded with matching scales below a cottony ring. In the strict sense it is a Mediterranean species associated with pines and evergreen oaks. North American mushrooms long reported under this name are now considered to belong to other, still unresolved species.
Considered edible in Europe, but often bitter, especially under hardwoods; bitterness varies between collections and is said to be removable by parboiling. It is valued in Cyprus, where it is pickled. North American 'caligatum' forms are a different, unresolved group and can be strongly bitter. Like other ringed, white-spored mushrooms it must be separated from Amanita species by checking the stem base for a volva.
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Habitat
Mycorrhizal with Mediterranean conifers (Pinus pinea, P. brutia, P. halepensis, P. nigra, P. pinaster) and with evergreen oaks, strawberry tree and terebinth; coastal and upland woods in autumn and winter.
Distribution
Southern Europe, locally common in Mediterranean woods; MushroomExpert also cites North Africa. North American records under this name are considered misapplied: MushroomExpert describes eastern hardwood (oak), Colorado spruce and California forms of a 'caligatum' group needing revision, and Wikipedia notes that T. dulciolens may be the correct name for some western specimens.
Characteristics
Cap: up to about 12-15 cm, hemispherical becoming convex to flat, with chestnut to dark brown fibrous scales or patches over a paler ground; inrolled margin often bearing cottony veil remnants. Gills: adnate to sinuate, crowded, whitish to cream, spotting reddish-brown with age. Stem: 4-12 cm, tapering and somewhat rooting, white above a cottony ring and banded with dark scales below. Flesh: thick, fibrous, white. Odor: spicy, likened to nutmeg or allspice. Spore print: white.
