Shagtop

Description:

Most striking of this big, beautiful and very tasty mushroom is the scaly cap, which it is named. Shaggy Parasol move through a "drumstick" phase, before the mushroom opens to an umbrella, hence "parasol", the French name coined for its big and more famous cousin Lepiota procera, which is not widely distributed in the PNW yet. Drumsticks can be turned magically into umbrellas by inserting the stipe in a water-filled glass of after collection. Umbrellas are easier to fry. The flesh of all three PNW Shaggy parasols stains quickly orange-red when bruised (see scratched area on stem on the pulled specimen to the left). The orange-red will fade to brown after awhile. The slender stem [length 10-20 cm / 4-8 in.] is hollow and has a ring that can be moved around once the mushroom is older and dryish. The stem base of the Shaggy parasols is bulbous [and in the case of Ch. brunneum abrupt]. Usually such wide stem bases should ring your alarm bells, since it is typical for the Amanita genus, which contains some of the deadliest mushrooms. In addition, this Chlorophyllum is white-spored, just like the Amanitas are. However, these deadly Amanitas do not stain orange red, nor are they scaly. There are three tall [15-25 cm / 6-10 in], edible Chlorophyllum species, such as Ch. rachodes, Ch. brunneum and Ch. olivieri. In the past these three were all identified as Macrolepiota and clustered under M. rachodes. However, DNA analyses has shown (Vellinga 2002/2003) that these fungi are more closely related to Chlorophyllum molybdites than to Macrolepiota procera. Chlorophyllum molybdites [growing in Hawaii] is a very similar, tall, light-green spored species that causes extremely unpleasant, but at least non-lethal poisonings in climates with hot summers or in the tropics or subtropics. So far the Green-spored Shaggy parasol has not been reported in the PNW, but be very careful collecting shaggy parasols in warmer areas. Also, be aware that there are similar looking small [height and cap diameter below 10 cm/4 in.], Lepiotas, some of them even deadly.

Habitat:

Widely Distributed.

Notes:

If you have identified this mushroom positively and you know that you will not react adversely as a few people do, you can enjoy a nice meal. Like most mushrooms, they need to be cooked thoroughly before consumption. I love to fry them gills down in butter until they turn light brown, flip them shortly and then put them on a toast with herb butter and a thin slice of parmiggiano. They can be used in many other preparations, they have a strong, gamy taste, very umami [=savory]. They can stand up to a generous amount of garlic.