Tricholoma orirubens, commonly

Common name

A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...

 known as blushing tricholoma, is an edible gilled mushroom

Agaricales

The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms , or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has 33 extant families, 413 genera, and over 13000 described species, along with five extinct genera known only from the fossil record...

 native to Europe. The grey-capped fruit bodies are generally found singly or in small groups in deciduous and coniferous woodland in autumn.

Taxonomy

Tricholoma orirubens was described by French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 mycologist

Mycology

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...

 Lucien Quélet

Lucien Quélet

thumb|Lucien QuéletLucien Quélet was a French mycologist and naturalist who discovered several species and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycological studies....

 in 1873. The generic

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 name derives from the Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 trichos/τριχος 'hair' and loma/λωμα 'hem', 'fringe' or 'border'. It lies within the section terrea within the subgenus Tricholoma within the genus Tricholoma.

Description

Tricholoma orirubens has a dark grey or grey-brown cap up to 7.5 cm (3 in) in diameter with darker blackish scales, and a straight or undulating margin. The cap is conical with a slight boss before opening and flattening, eventually with either a boss or central depression. The thick grey gills are emarginate or adnate and widely spaced, and turn red when bruised. The white or pale grey ringless stipe

Stipe (mycology)

thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...

 measures 4.5 to 8 cm tall and 0.7 to 2.5 cm wide, and has a distinctive blue tinged base.

Distribution and habitat

Widespread across Europe, Tricholoma orirubens is not common. It is rare in the Netherlands. Found singly or in small groups in deciduous and coniferous woodland in autumn, it prefers clayey or chalky soils. It is ectomycorrhizal.

Tricholoma orirubens can also form fairy ring

Fairy ring

A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow to over in diameter, and they become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground. They are found mainly in forested areas, but...

s. One found in Germany had a diameter of around 80 m (250 ft) and contained an estimated 10,000 mushrooms.

Edibility

Smelling and tasting strongly of flour, T. orirubens is one of the more appetising members of the genus. It can taste sweet as well.