''Tricholoma murrillianum'' is a
gilled mushroom
An agaric () is a type of fungus fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus (cap) that is clearly differentiated from the stipe (stalk), with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. In the UK, agarics are called "mushrooms ...
found west of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
growing in coniferous woodland. This
ectomycorrhizal fungus is an
edible
An edible item is any item that is safe for humans to eat. "Edible" is differentiated from "eatable" because it does not indicate how an item tastes, only whether it is fit to be eaten. Nonpoisonous items found in nature – such as some mushroo ...
species that exists in a
symbiotic
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
relationship with various species of
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
as well as
tan oak
''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'', commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak, is a broadleaf tree in the family Fagaceae, and the type species of the genus ''Notholithocarpus''. It is native to the far western United States, particularly Orego ...
and
madrone
''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to warm temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islan ...
. It belongs to the genus ''
Tricholoma
''Tricholoma'' is a genus of fungus that contains many fairly fleshy white-spored gilled mushrooms which are found worldwide generally growing in woodlands. These are ectomycorrhizal fungi, existing in a symbiotic relationship with various spec ...
'' in the matsutake species complex, which includes the closely related
East Asian
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...
songi or
matsutake
, ''Tricholoma matsutake'', is a species of choice edible mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in East Asia, Europe, and North America. It is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinct spicy-aromatic odor.
Etymology
The common name and specifi ...
as well as the American matsutake (''
T. magnivelare'') and Mexican matsutake (''T. mesoamericanum'').
''T. murrillianum'' is also known as the ponderosa mushroom, pine mushroom, and Western matsutake.
Edibility
Matsutake mushrooms (including ''T. murrillianum'') are choice edibles with high desirability, especially in
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
markets. They are prized for their distinctive spicy odor and flavor and firm, meaty texture. Serious poisonings have occurred due to confusion with poisonous look-alikes, most notably ''
Amanita smithiana
''Amanita smithiana'', also known as Smith's amanita, is a species of agaric found on soil in coniferous (''Abies'', ''Tsuga'', ''Pseudotsuga'') and broadleaved (''Alnus'', ''Quercus'') woodland in the Pacific Northwest of North America. It frui ...
''.
Harvest
As Japanese production of ''
T. matsutake'' has declined with the growing presence of the pine-killing
nematode
The nematodes ( or grc-gre, Νηματώδη; la, Nematoda) or roundworms constitute the phylum Nematoda (also called Nemathelminthes), with plant-Parasitism, parasitic nematodes also known as eelworms. They are a diverse animal phylum inhab ...
, ''
Bursaphelenchus xylophilus
''Bursaphelenchus xylophilus'', commonly known as pine wood nematode or pine wilt nematode (PWN), is a species of nematode that infects trees in the Pine, ''Pinus'' genus of coniferous trees and causes the disease Wilt disease#Pine wilt, pine wil ...
'', there is an increasingly global matsutake harvesting market of related species. Exports from western
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
bloomed over the last four decades, driving prices to a peak in the 1990s when Western matsutakes reached up to $600 per pound. Prices have since declined dramatically, but the annual matsutake harvest still drives economies in many rural Pacific Northwest areas.
Button matsutakes are especially prized, and illegal raking of wild matsutake patches can cause serious ecological damage. Matsutake harvests in the Pacific Northwest have been on the decline in recent years, possibly as a result of deep raking and over-harvesting.
Distribution
''T. murrillianum'' is found predominantly in the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It was previously included with the American matsutake, ''
T. magnivelare'', but in 2017 scholarship based on molecular analysis separated the two and determined that ''T. magnivelare'' is limited to the eastern half of
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
.
In southern North America, the Mexican matsutake,
''T. mesoamericanum'', is found instead.
The Western matsutake can be distinguished from its Asian counterparts by its whiter color, and from its North American counterparts by range, which does not overlap. It is mostly white while ''T. magnivelare'' and ''T. mesoamericanum'' tend to be darker in cap coloration, though all three can stain reddish brown with handling when mature. ''T. murrillianum'' also has a smoother
pileus than the eastern ''T. magnivelare''.
See also
*
List of ''Tricholoma'' species
*
List of North American ''Tricholoma''
References
External links
MykoWeb profile of ''T. murrillianum''{{Taxonbar, from=Q47457425
murrillianum
Edible fungi
Fungi of North America
Fungi described in 1942
Taxa named by Rolf Singer