Conocybe lactea

White Dunce Cap

Order Agaricales, family Bolbitiaceae

CAP LIKE A WHITISH DUNCE CAP

Cap:  1-3 cm wide; dunce cap shape, narrowly conical, then becoming more bell-shaped with the cap edge flaring up slightly; irregular wrinkles, white to buff, especially at center

GILLS WHITE THEN BROWNISH

Gills:  free or nearly free; very narrow; whitish becoming cinnamon brown

STALK WHITE, FRAGILE WITH NO RING

Stalk:  3-10 cm long, 1-2 mm wide; fragile, hollow; often breaks under weight of cap

SPORE PRINT CINNAMON BROWN

ON LAWNS

NOT EDIBLE

Lookalikes --

Brown cone head (C. tenera group) -- darker cap and stem

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE TO KNOW...

You'll have to get out of bed before the sun heats up the grass to find this mushroom. It quickly dries up in the mid-morning, or the stem breaks under the weight of its cap.  But—though it's not worth a special trip out of bed—this very common, grass-growing fungus is fun to find. You can almost imagine the dunce caps coming alive in a Disney show in your back yard.

Look for little white dunce caps at cut-grass level when you're up early sometime.

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