Cap |
The creamy-buff caps can grow up to 20 cm in
diameter, with 10 to 15 cm more typical. Smooth, matt and convex at first
but later flat or shallowly funnel-shaped, the cap retains a fairly broad
central umbo.
The thick cap flesh is white and very firm, and when young this is a
good edible mushroom (but the tough, fibrous stem should be discarded). |
Gills
|
The broad, crowded gill are deeply decurrent
and concolorous with the cap. |
Stipe |
In young specimens the stem is slightly paler than the cap, but as the fruit
body matures it becomes much the same yellowish-buff colour all over.
The fibrous stem is smooth, without a ring, thickening towards the base. |
Spore print |
White. |
Odour/taste |
Faint smell of bitter almonds; taste not
distinctive. |
Habitat |
In trooping groups or rings in deciduous
woodland, especially clearings; sometimes on roadside verges beside
forests. |
Season |
August to early December; occasionally evident
right through to the end of the year. |
Occurrence |
Fairly common. |
Similar species |
- Clitocybe gibba , the Common Funnel cap, is smaller
and usually has a wavy cap edge; its flesh is much softer and the stem
is often hollow.
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