Tricholoma pardinum, commonly known as spotted tricholoma, tiger tricholoma, tigertop, leopard knight, or dirty trich, is a species of gilled mushroom. First officially described by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in 1801, it has had a confusing taxonomic history that extends over two centuries. In 1762, German naturalist Jacob Christian Schäffer described the species Agaricus tigrinus with an illustration corresponding to what is thought to be T. pardinum, and consequently, the name Tricholoma tigrinum has been used erroneously in some European field guides. The fruit body of Tricholoma pardinum is an imposing mushroom with a pale grey cap up to 15 cm (6 in) in diameter that is covered with dark brownish to greyish scales. The gills are whitish, and are not attached to the stout white to pale grey-brown stalk. The spore print is white. It is widely distributed across North America, Europe, and parts of Asia. It is generally found in beech woodland in summer and autumn. One of the more toxic members of the genus Tricholoma, the species has been implicated in a number of episodes of mushroom poisoning, probably because it is a large, attractive mushroom with a pleasant smell and taste, and resembles several edible species. Ingesting it—even in small quantities—results in a severe, persistent gastroenteritis caused by an unknown mycotoxin.
Taxonomy
The German naturalist Jacob Christian Schäffer published Fungorum qui in Bavaria et Palatinatu circa Ratisbonam nascuntur Icones in 1762, in which he described a mushroom he called Agaricus tigrinus. The illustration accompanying the name fits what we now know as Tricholoma pardinum; the description is less clear. Elias Magnus Fries used the name Agaricus tigrinus in his 1821 work Systema Mycologicum, in accordance with Bulliard's 1782 description, which now corresponds with Lentinus tigrinus. Christiaan Hendrik Persoon described this species as Agaricus myomyces var. pardinus in 1801, but queried whether it was a distinct species. In his 1838 work Epicrisis systematis mycologici: seu synopsis hymenomycetum, Fries assigned a different fungus again to the binomial name and linked it to Schäffer's 1762 description. French mycologist Lucien Quélet reclassified it as a species in 1873, giving it its current binomial name. Italian mycologist Alfredo Riva has noted that Swiss mycologist Louis Secretan provided a description forty years before Quélet, in his 1833 work Mycographie Suisse, and queried why it was ignored. He has proposed the fungus be written as Tricholoma pardinum (Secr.) Quél. Secretan's works are generally not recognised for nomenclatural purposes because he did not use binomial nomenclature consistently. There has been confusion over which scientific name to use for over two hundred years. Tricholoma tigrinum has been used in some European field guides, but has been applied in error to this species. The uncertainty was such that Czech mycologists Josef Herink and František Kotlaba suggested in 1967 that both are incorrect and proposed the new name T. pardalotum. Tricholoma pardinum lies within the subgenus Pardinicutis of Tricholoma, a grouping of similar species characterised by greyish, brownish, or pallid caps that are woolly or covered in small scales, spores with a length between eight and eleven micrometres, and abundant clamp connections in the hyphae. Molecular analyses suggest that T. pardinum is closely related to T. huronense, T. mutabile, and T. venenatum. Tricholoma pardinum var. filamentosum is an uncommon variety, described in 1983 by Carlo Luciano Alessio, which produces mushrooms with more fibrillose caps and stalks than the typical variety. It is found in southern Europe, where it associates with chestnut and spruce trees. Another variety has been described as T. pardinum var. unguentatum, characterised by daintier mushrooms that have a greasy coating on their caps. The specific epithet pardinum is derived from the Latin pardus "leopard", referring to its mottled or spotted cap. The generic name derives from Greek θρίξ thrix "hair" (GEN τριχός trichos) and λῶμα lōma "hem", "fringe", or "border". Common names include striped tricholoma, spotted tricholoma, tiger tricholoma, poison trich, leopard knight, and tigertop. Dirty trich was a name coined by author Gary H. Lincoff in response to a publisher's request for a more accessible name than its binomial one for North American guidebooks.
Description
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