The largest member of its genus, The stout white stipe lacks a
ring and is anywhere from high, and in diameter. It may be bulbous at the base. The taste is mild, although it may be unpleasant. The mushroom's strong and unusual odor can be hard to describe; it may smell of flour, though is often unpleasant and
rancid. The
spore print is reddish-brown, with angular spores 8–11 × 7–9.5
μm, roughly six-sided and globular in shape. The
basidia are four-spored and clamped. The gill edge is fertile, and
cystidia are absent.
Similar species Confusion with the highly regarded miller or sweetbread mushroom (
Clitopilus prunulus) is a common cause of poisoning in France; the latter fungus has a greyish -white downy cap and whitish decurrent gills which turn pink with maturity. Young fruit bodies of
Entoloma sinuatum can also be confused with St George's mushroom (
Calocybe gambosa), although the gills of the latter are crowded and cream in color, and the clouded agaric (
Clitocybe nebularis), which has whitish decurrent gills and an unusual, starchy, rancid or rancid starch odor. To complicate matters, it often grows near these edible species. Its overall size and shape resemble members of the genus
Tricholoma, although the spore color (white in
Tricholoma, pinkish in
Entoloma) and shape (angular in
Entoloma) help distinguish it. The rare and edible all-white dovelike tricholoma (
T. columbetta) has a satiny cap and stem and a faint, not mealy, odor.
E. sinuatum may be confused with
Clitocybe multiceps in the
Pacific Northwest of North America, although the latter has white spores and generally grows in clumps. A casual observer may mistake it for an edible field mushroom (
Agaricus campestris), but this species has a ring on the stipe, pink gills that become chocolate-brown in maturity, and a dark brown spore print. The poorly known North American species
E. albidum resembles
E. sinuatum but is likewise poisonous. == Distribution and habitat ==