Matsutake
Tricholoma matsutake · 松茸
Occasional口蘑科🍽 Reported Edible (Wild)
Reference sources describe this as an edible wild fungus. This guide provides no basis whatsoever for foraging or consumption.
The same species can be described differently across regions and stages of maturity, and countless look-alike species cannot be told apart by eye. Never use the information on this page to judge whether a real mushroom is safe to eat.
How to Tell
- Cap brown, covered in fibrous scales
- Stem stout, with a thick membranous ring
- Has a distinctive spicy, piney smell; grows under pine
ID notes are compiled by AI from public sources, not reviewed by a mycologist, for learning only — never a basis for foraging.
Basics
- Family
- 口蘑科
- Hymenium
- Gills
- Grows On
- Mycorrhizal
- How Big
- 5–20 cm (cap diameter)
- Encounter Rate
- Occasional
- Habitat
- Ectomycorrhizal on living roots of red pine and mountain pines
Easily Confused With
Almond mushroomCap brown with scales; gills pink, darkening to deep brown
Smith's amanitaMatsutake smells of pine resin and its stem base is not swollen; Smith's amanita smells unpleasant, with a spindle-shaped swollen base.
Yellow knightMatsutake has a brown cap with fibrous scales, a large stem ring and a resinous pine scent; yellow knight is yellow-green with no ring.Fun Fact
It must live in symbiosis with living pine roots and still can't be cultivated; from the moment its mycelium colonizes a root to the moment a mushroom appears takes five or six years.