Winter talker (Clitocybe brumalis)
- Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Tricholomataceae (Tricholomovye or Ryadovkovye)
- Genus: Clitocybe (Clitocybe or Govorushka)
- Type: Clitocybe brumalis (Winter talker)
The mushroom has a cap up to 5 cm in diameter, convex at the beginning of growth and prostrate or depressed later on. The edges of the cap are slightly sinuous, thin, smoky or olive-brown in color, and whitish-brown when dry.
У winter talkers 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 as it dries.
The plates are frequent, narrow, descending, yellow-white or grayish. The mushroom has a thin, elastic pulp, floury taste and smell, whitening when dried.
Spores 4-6 x 2-4 µm, oval, wide, white spore powder.
Winter talker grows in coniferous forests on the litter, reaches maturity in late autumn. Distribution area – the European part of the former territory of the Soviet Union, Siberia, the Far East, the Caucasus, Western Europe, South America, North Africa.
The mushroom is edible, it is used as food in main courses and soups, and it can also be pickled, salted or dried.