Distribution: Widely in Northern Hemisphere

Habitat: Growth with conifers, especially spruce

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Edibility: It is said to be edible but of low quality; in light of this, and given the toxic nature of most brown tricholomas, we recommend avoidance.

It is said to be edible but of low quality; in light of this, and given the toxic nature of most brown tricholomas, we recommend avoidance.

Tricholoma vaccinum is perhaps the most distinctive of the brown tricholomas by virtue of its medium size, warm brown colors, dry wooly-scaly cap and fibrillose-scaly stipe that often is spindle-shaped and hollow, and growth with conifers, especially spruce. The cap edge usually is inrolled with a thin weakly developed veil, the center retains an umbo, and the gills are white to cream, but may spot reddish or turn orangeish red entirely in age. The odor is mild to farinaceous and the taste mild to bitter. T. vaccinum is widely distributed in the northern portion of the Northern Hemisphere and is especially common in the Rockies and PNW. The name means, “pertaining to cows,” presumably in reference to the color rather than to its occurrence in large herds.