Matsutake
Formerly grouped with Tricholoma, click here to see images.
Here is a newly uncovered "nest" of the American matsutake, Tricholoma magnivelare. Also called the "white" matsutake, or the pine mushroom, it is found from the southern parts of the Colorado Rockies way up into Canada and along the coast. Similar or perhaps identical mushrooms grow in the mountains of Mexico as well. Matsutake grow under Doug fir, pine, Shasta fir, subalpine fir, usually in a mixed ecosystem.
This is the Asian version of this popular mushroom, as grown in Japan, Korea, and China. This box was for sale for about $100 in Tokyo.
Here is the matsutake with two other mushrooms which are often mistaken for it. Can you tell Catathalesma imperialis and Tricholoma focale (Armillaria zelleri) from the true matsutake?
(The left is Catathalesma biennis, the middle is a white matsutake Tricholoma magnivelare, and the right hand one is Tricholoma focale, previously known as Armillaria zelleri.)
