Agrocybe praecox group

Spring Agrocybe

Order Agaricales, family Bolbitiaceae 

CAP YELLOW-BROWN, CONVEX TO FLAT

Cap:  3-9 cm wide; convex to flat, sometimes with knob and uplifted edge; tan to yellow-brown; dry; smooth; veil remnants sometimes hanging on edge

GILLS WHITE THEN BROWN

Gills: attached; close; white then brown

STALK  WHITE TO PALE YELLOW

Stalk:  3-10 cm long, .3-1.5 cm thick; white to pale yellow, white rhizomorphs at base

Ring:  fragile, sometimes disappearing

SPORE PRINT BROWN

Spores 8-11 x 5-6, elliptical, smooth, apical pore

ON LAWNS, WOOD DEBRIS

EDIBLE BUT NOT WORTH IT

Lookalikes:

Inky caps (Coprinus sp.) -- black spores

Button mushroom (Agaricus sp.) -- thicker stalk, chocolate brown spores

Agrocybe pediades group

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If you're sitting on your porch having a refreshment and you look across your lawn, you won't see this mushroom. You won't be missing much, but don't let that stop you from looking for it. It's the "pursuit of happiness," not the attainment of it, that motivates us, right?  So get up, and walk into your lawn. Unlike some city mushrooms like Panaeolus foenisecii, you won't have to get down on your hands and knees to find A. praecox.  Just walk around and look down.  Once you find and identify it, you can throw it in the compost heap and return to the porch—and take another sip or two of your refreshment.

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