Entoloma bloxami
Syll. Fung. 5: 684. 1887.
Common Name: none
Misapplied name: Entoloma madidum
Cap 5-13 cm broad, convex, becoming plane, umbonate; dark bluish-grey, subviscid, wrinkled to fibrillose-streaked; flesh thick, white, unchanging, odor farinaceous.
Gills adnexed to notched, close, white to pale blue, becoming pinkish as spores mature.
Stipe 5-11 cm long, 1.5-3 cm thick, equal to tapered at base, streaked bluish-grey above, pallid to whitish below; veil absent.
Spores 7-8.5 x 6-7.5 µm, oval to nearly round, angular. Spore print salmon-pink.
Scattered to gregarious in mixed hardwood conifer forests from late fall through mid-winter.
Edible and excellent. Proceed with caution—since most Entolomas are poisonous, be sure of your identification!
Entoloma bloxami is a large, robust mushroom with a steel blue-grey subviscid cap, usually bluish gills with pinkish tones, and a bluish-grey streaked stipe. It has an aspect that resembles a Tricholoma or Russula, but is easily distinguished by its salmon-pink spore color.
Berkeley, M.J. & Broome, C.E. (1854). Notices of British fungi XXXV. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Ser. 2 12: 396-407.
(Protologue)
Largent, D.L. (1994). Entolomatoid Fungi of the Western United States and Alaska. Mad River Press: Eureka, CA. 516 p.
Noordeloos, M.E. (1992). Entoloma s.l. (Funghi Europaei, vol. 5). Giovanna Biella: Saronno. 760 p.
Noordeloos, M.E. (2004). Entoloma s.l. Supplement (Funghi Europaei, vol. 5A). Ediziona Candusso: Alassio. 618 p.
