The Pacific Northwest matsutake is a stout, white mushroom that fruits in fall, usually half-buried under duff in sandy soils beneath lodgepole pine, Douglas-fir, hemlock and tanoak. As it matures, its cap picks up cinnamon-brown stains and fibers, and a thick cottony veil leaves a flaring ring on a dense, firm stem. Its best identifier is its smell: a spicy, cinnamon-and-pine scent.