Tricholoma aurantium    (Schaeff.:Fr.) Ricken 

common name(s) : Orange Knight 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Tricholomataceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Tricholomatales/Tricholomataceae/Tricholomatoideae/Tricholomateae  

synonyms: Armillaria aurantia 

edibility : inedible

potential confusions with  Tricholoma aurantium toxicity of Tricholoma aurantium genus Tricholoma  

The cap is bright red-orange to orange-brown, convex to conical, then expanded to slightly depressed, with or without broad central umbo; its margin is smooth, inrolled for a long time. The cap surface is smooth, slightly scaly at the margin when dry, very viscid.

The stem is white at the apex, girdled with orange bands below the ring zone, sometimes with green stains at the base and in the youth, orange droplets oozing at the apex, with a flaky ring zone.

The flesh is white, thick, unchanging; its taste is clearly bitter; the odour is mealy or of cucumber; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are white then cream, staining brown-orange with age at their edge, emarginate, crowded . The spore print is white. This species is mycorrhizal. It grows on the ground, in warm places of coniferous woods, sometimes also with broad-leaved trees, on a rather calcareous soil, with spruce, fir, also occasionally with beech and birch.

The fruiting period takes place from August to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 8 cm (between 3 and 10 cm)
  height of stem approximately 8 cm (between 5 and 10 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 15 mm (between 10 and 21 mm)

Distinctive features : Orange and viscid cap; white stem at the apex, but banded with orange below the ring zone; mealy odour; bitter taste; with conifers

Tricholoma aurantium is still unreported so far in the forest of Rambouillet, and is quite rare, more generally speaking .



page updated on 14/01/18