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Coprinus comatus

 
Commonly referred to as either the Shaggy Ink Cap or the Lawyer's Wig, Coprinus comatus is a large and conspicuous edible fungus. It occurs in meadows, woods and roadside verges.

Identification guide

Cap

Initially egg-shaped and opening into a long bell, the shaggy caps are at first pure white pale brown area at the top that breaks up into large recurved scales. In dry weather the whole of the cap breaks into pale flaking scales that stand out from the cap surface. Rain flattens the scales, as has happened in the case of the group shown here.

Typically 5 to 10 but occasionally 15 cm tall and up to 6 cm in diameter, the caps darken and then deliquesce from the lower edge, eventually leaving just the stipe with a very small black disc perched on top.

Gills

The adnexed to free gills are crowded and initially white. They soon turn pink and then black before deliquescing (liquefying) from the outside edge.

In this picture three large Shaggy Ink Caps have been reduced to little more than stems with small inky discs perched on the top.

Stipe

The stem is parallel sided, 10 to 15 mm diameter; white, quite brittle and hollow.

The stem ring becomes stained with black spores; it soon becomes movable and often falls down to the base of the stem.

Spore print

Black.

Odour/taste

Faint and quite pleasant, but not distinctive.

Habitat

On grass verges, at the edges of footpaths, and in open woodland; often in small groups and occasionally in long, wandering lines.

Season

April to November, but most plentiful in summer and autumn; they appear in greatest abundance soon after rain.

Occurrence

Frequent.

Similar species

  1. Coprinus picaceus is at first very similar but is covered with tiny white scales which, as the cap turns grey and expands, stand out in distinct patches to give it a 'magpie-like' appearance - hence its common name Magpie Ink Cap.
First Nature Multimedia Guide to Fungi
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