A widespread species, it is distributed in the United States, Europe, Africa, and India, and is found growing under spruce and pine in mixed forests.

The fruit bodies are characterized by a light grayish cap that measures up to 8 cm (3.1 in) in diameter, waxy gills, a dry stem, and the distinct odor of bitter almonds.

An edible but bland-tasting mushroom, extracts of the fruit bodies have been shown in laboratory tests to have antimicrobial activity against various bacteria that are pathogenic to humans.

The species was originally named Agaricus agathosmus by Swedish mycologist Elias Fries in 1815;[1] he later moved it into the genus Hygrophorus in 1838.

[7] In their 1963 monograph of the Hygrophorus of North America, American mycologists Lexemuel Ray Hesler and Alexander H. Smith classified H. agathosmus in the subsection Camarophylli, a grouping of related species characterized by a dry stem, and the absence of a gelatinous outer veil.

[16] Using a standard laboratory test to determine antimicrobial activity, Hygrophorus agathosmus was shown to inhibit the growth of various pathogenic bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Bacillus subtilis; it also inhibits the growth of the yeast Candida albicans and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Hygrophorus occidentalis, which grows under conifers or oak, has a sticky stem and less pronounced almond odor.

[19] Hygrophorus agathosmus is an ectomycorrhizal fungus, and it has been isolated, cultivated, and maintained as pure cultures of vegetative fungal inocula for artificial mycorrhization of planting stock in forest nurseries.

[20] Fruiting bodies are found scattered under spruce and pine and in mixed woods in the United States.

The fungus is also found in Europe (Czech Republic,[21] Poland,[22] Russia,[23] Turkey,[24] and the United Kingdom[25]), Africa, and India.