T. pipera´tum Pk.—piper, pepper. Pileus rather thin, firm, dry, convex, obtuse or subumbonate, virgate with innate brownish fibrils, varying in color from grayish-brown to blackish-brown, sometimes with greenish or yellowish tints. Flesh white or whitish, taste acrid. Gills broad, close, rounded behind, adnexed, whitish or yellowish. Stem generally short, equal, solid, silky, slightly mealy or pruinose at the top, white or slightly tinged with yellow. Spores elliptic, 6–7µ long, 5µ broad. Pileus 4–7 cm. broad. Stem 5–7 cm. long, 6–12 mm. thick.
The central part of the pileus is sometimes a little darker than the rest. The peppery or acrid taste is very distinct and remains in the mouth many minutes. This and the innately fibrillose character of the pileus are distinguishing characters of the species. The plants appear from September to November. Peck, Torr. Bull., Vol. 26.
Mt. Gretna, Pa. October to November, 1898, on damp ground among moss. McIlvaine.
Cap up to 3 in. across, bell-shaped, then convex, depressed in center and undulate, light-brown, darker toward center, dry, minutely fibrillose. Flesh thick, white, thin toward margin. Gills emarginate, unequal, not forked. Stem 1½-2 in. long, hard, equal or enlarging toward base, white, silky, striate.
Though peppery raw, this Tricholoma is of good substance and flavor when cooked.
B. Pileus Even, Smooth, Not Downy, Scaly, Nor Viscid, Etc.
V.—Gutta´ta. Pileus marked with drop-like spots or rivulose.
T. gambo´sum Fr.—gambosus, swelling near the hoof. Pileus 3–4 in. and more broad, becoming pale-tan, fleshy, hemispherico-convex, then flattened, obtuse, undulated and bent backward, even, smooth, but spotted as with drops, at length widely cracked (not, however, torn into squamules), the margin at the first involute and tomentose. Flesh thick, soft, fragile, white. Stem 2 in. and more long, ½-1 in. thick, solid, fleshy-firm, almost equal, often curved-ascending at the base, white, downy at the apex. Gills rounded or emarginato-adnexed, with a somewhat decurrent tooth and when old sinuato-decurrent, crowded, ventricose, 2–3 lines broad, whitish. Fries.
Odor pleasant, of new meal. Often forming large rings or clusters. A whitish form must not be confounded with T. albellus.