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Macrolepiota rhacoides

 
Macrolepiota rhacoides, the Shaggy Parasol, is an edible mushroom found mainly in coniferous forests and under fir hedges. It is smaller than the Parasol Mushroom, Macrolepiota  procera.

Identification guide

Cap

Initially bun shaped, the cap expands and becomes convex. Only rarely do Shaggy Parasols open out completely flat.

At maturity, the cap diameter ranges from 5 to 15 cm.

Gills

The gills are soft, white, free and crowded. If the gills are bruised or cut, they turn reddish - as also does the cap flesh if it is cut.

Stipe

The hollow stem is white, tinged with red-brown, and the stem rises eccentrically from a large bulbous base. The stem diameter is between 1.8 and 2.4 cm.

A movable white double ring, the same colour as the stem, sometimes falls to the base as the fruit body matures.

Spore print

White or pale cream.

Odour/taste

Taste not distinctive; odour quite strong and pleasant.

Habitat

In all kinds of woodland and sometimes in hedgerows.

Season

June to October.

Occurrence

Frequent.

Similar species

  1. Macrolepiota procera, the Parasol Mushroom, has smaller scales and a brown and white pattern, oftein like snakeskin, on the stem.
First Nature Multimedia Guide to Fungi
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