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Chlorophyllum molybdites
This mushroom, known as the false parasol and green-spored parasol, is responsible for most of the mushroom poisonings in North America. A great reason for this is due to the fact that they grow in fairly urban environments (these were found in a small kid's park and a nearby grassy area) and are mistaken for the true parasol mushroom, Macrolepiota procera.
Growing on grass, where an abundance of water is present. Since these are found in the Sonoran desert, an area of unforgiving heat, they grow in well-irrigated lawns and in well-kept parks. They grow in families and can literally pop up overnight. During a walk yesterday, my nephew and I saw no fungus; today, there they were, still fairly young, but a great size nonetheless!
The dimensions of this guy: the cap is 78mm long, the height of the fruting body is 65 mm, and the width of the stem is 8 mm. Gills are free and close, starting out white, then becoming yellow, then either grayish or green upon maturity (the last photos are a great example of the mature color). These are fairly young, as I've seen some to grow to about half a foot tall and wide! Make sure to keep children and pets (I think it affects them also) away from these, and if they do happen to eat some and the gills of the mushroom are at all green, seek help immediately. These can be fatal to children, whereas adults will only receive severe gastrointestinal upset (still pretty unpleasant!). Some argue that it's a Lepiota and therefore is called Lepiota molybdites by some, while Lepiota morgani is an older name for it.
Spotted on Oct 2, 2011
Submitted on Oct 3, 2011
10 Comments
Hahha exactly! Those would be some bark-loving hedgehogs, right?
and on a few trees too
If only I could tag along! This desert won't provide anything remotely interesting until late summer, and I can only dream (which I have, mind you) of dense woods ripe with mushrooms near every tree...
Good luck on your hunting! :)
I'm not much a bolete fan... give me hedgehogs or chanterelles, or shaggy parasols any day. Hmmm I think it's time to go hunting again
I hear a lot about how delicious they are! Might have to try that myself, but I'm waiting to find some Boletus edulis to pleasantly sample. :)
The amanitas are the only ones in an egg that I know of. The shaggy parasol starts out looking like a brown door knob - but smaller. And as they grow the brown cracks and becomes "shaggy" and my goodness are they one of the best I've ever cooked up for breakfast
Image 4 is a button actually! Even younger than that, they are (I would imagine) encased in the brown universal veil (like a small egg), then pop up and out. I don't know much about the shaggy parasol, just that it has a shaggy margin and usually a floppy white ring, while this is one of the few suburban mushrooms that grow in the desert near autumn. To differentiate: this one has green-gray gills in old age, a greenish spore print, reddish-brownish staining on stem, and no scales as a shaggy mane does.
Do the buttons come up all brown? They look a little like shaggy parasol, which start out brown and then scale off to look similar to these. The difference being they sprout in cold weather
Glad you like them!! :)
Thank you.
nice photos!