Agaricus silvicola - Wood Mushroom

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

With a noticeable aniseed smell and a smooth cap that slowly colours ochre when bruised, Agaricus silvicola is quite easily distinguished from the other large mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae.

After the Clouded Funnel, Clitocybe nebularis, the Wood Mushroom is probably the most commonly encountered of the large pale forest mushrooms.

Identification guide

	Cap The large white caps of this edible mushroom are initially spherical and then convex before flattening completely at maturity. Cap diameter when fully developed ranges from 6 to 14cm.
	Gills White at first, the free gills turn greyish-pink and then chocolate brown as the spores mature.
Stem	5 to 8cm tall and 1 to 1.5cm in diameter with a small bulb at the base, the stipe is white at first and turns yellow-grey as the fruitbody matures.
Spore print	Chocolate brown.
Odour/taste	Taste not distinctive; odour of aniseed.
Habitat	In all kinds of woodland, usually in trooping groups.
Season	August to November.
Occurrence	Frequent.
Similar species	Agaricus arvensis, the Horse Mushroom, is similar in appearance and also has an aniseed smell; it appears in grassland, often growing in rings. Agaricus xanthodermus quickly stains chrome yellow, especially when the base of the stipe is cut; it smells of ink or iodine rather than of aniseed.