Winter talker (Clitocybe brumalis)
Systematics:
- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Tricholomataceae (Tricholomaceae or Ordinary)
- Genus: Clitocybe (Clitocybe or Talker)
- Species: Clitocybe brumalis (Winter talker)
The mushroom has a cap up to 5 cm in diameter, convex at the beginning of growth and extended or depressed later. The edges of the cap are slightly sinuous, thin, smoky or olive-brown in color, and whitish-brown when dry.
The winter talker has a cylindrical leg about 4 cm high and 0.6 cm thick, hollow inside, with longitudinal fibers. The color of the stem is usually the same as that of the cap, and becomes lighter when dry.
The plates are frequent, narrow, descending, yellow-white or grayish. The mushroom has a thin, elastic pulp, flour taste and smell, whitening when dry.
Spores 4-6 x 2-4 microns, oval, wide, white spore powder.
The winter talker grows in coniferous forests on a litter, reaching the ripening period in late autumn. The distribution area is the European part of the former Soviet Union, Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus, Western Europe, South America, North Africa.
The mushroom is edible, it is used as food in second courses and soups, and it can also be pickled, salted or dried.
