Tricholomopsis sulphureoides

What You Should Know

Tricholomopsis sulphureoides is a wood-decomposing fungus growing on Picea and Abies trunks in old-growth coniferous forests. It has a small number of localities in the temperate and boreal forests of Europe and North America. Its habitat is in decline due to clearcutting, however, there is no evidence of population decline, and the status in boreal Asia is unclear. Grew in temperate and boreal zones of eastern and western North America (Canada, USA) and Europe (France, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, UK). Only one Asian locality is known from China (UNITE).

Tricholomopsis sulphureoides is a species of fungi in the group Basidiomycota, first described by Charles Horton Peck, and given the simplified Asian name by Rolf Singer in 1943. Tricholomopsis sulphureoides belong to the genus Tricholili of the Tricholomataceae.

Tricholomopsis sulphureoides Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic on the wood of conifers, especially hemlocks—or on the wood of hardwoods undergoing a brown rot; usually growing gregariously or in clusters; summer and fall; more common in the Great Lakes region and northeastern North America than elsewhere, but occasionally reported in the Rocky Mountains, the southeastern United States, and on the West Coast.

2. Cap

   2–6 cm; at first convex with an incurved margin, becoming broadly convex or flat; dry; subtomentose when young, becoming finely scaly to stretched-fibrillose overall, with a subtomentose marginal zone; bright yellow when fresh, but soon fading to dull yellow and developing whitish spots and streaks; bruising slightly brownish in places.

3. Gills

   Broadly attached to the stem; close; short-gills frequent; yellow to yellowish-orange.

4. Stem

   4–8 cm long; 0.5–1 cm thick; equal; dry; slightly fibrillose in places; pale yellow, staining orangish where handled; basal mycelium pale yellow.

5. Flesh

   Yellow to pale yellow; turning slightly brownish in places when sliced.

6. Odor and Taste

   Odor fragrant; taste is not distinctive.

7. Chemical Reactions

   KOH instantly dark brownish-red on the cap surface.

8. Spore Print

   White.

9. Microscopic Features

   Spores 5–6 x 4–5.5 µm; subglobose to sublacrymoid, with a tiny apiculus; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Cheilocystidia 40–75 x 5–7.5 µm; cylindric with rounded to subclavate apices; smooth or occasionally finely encrusted; thin-walled; hyaline to orangish in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found. Lamellar trama parallel. Pileipellis a cutis with aggregated upright tufts; orange-brown in KOH; elements smooth, 2.5–5 µm wide; terminal cells cylindric with rounded apices. Clamp connections are present in lamellar trama and pileipellis.

Tricholomopsis sulphureoides Synonyms

1. Agaricus sulphureoides Peck 1872

2. Dendrosarcus sulphureoides (Peck) Kuntze 1898

3. Pleurotus sulphureoides (Peck) Sacc. 1887

4. Tricholomopsis ornata sulphureoides (Peck) Singer, 1943

5. Tricholomopsis osiliensis Vauras, 2009

6. Tricholomopsis sulphureoides megaspora A. H. Sm., 1960

7. Tricholomopsis sulphureoides sulphureoides (Peck) Singer, 1943

8. Tricholomopsis sulphureoides var. sulphureoides (Peck) Singer 1943

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Jimmie Veitch (jimmiev) (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 2 - Author: 2009-10-08_Tricholomopsis_sulphureoides_(Peck)_Singer_59933.jpg: (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 3 - Author: Jason Hollinger (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)

Photo 4 - Author: Jason Hollinger (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic)