Agrocybe pediades group

Common Agrocybe

Order Agaricales, family Bolbitiaceae

CAP ROUNDED, SMOOTH TO CRACKED, BUFF TO YELLOW BROWN

Cap: 1-4 cm wide; rounded to almost flat with age; smooth, sometimes cracked; buff to yellow brown, sometimes with whitish veil remnants on margin

GILLS BECOMING CIGAR BROWN

Gills: attached; broad, close; white becoming cinnamon brown

STALK SLIGHTLY DARKER AT BASE

Stalk:  2-6 cm long, 1.5-5 mm thick; color of cap, straight to twisted

RING: ephemeral, visible on buttons only

SPORE PRINT BROWN

Spores 9-13 x 6.5-8 µm, smooth, elliptical

SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS ON GRASS, WOOD CHIPS, DUNG

NOT WORTH EATING – too easily confused

Lookalikes:

Fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades) -- white spores, wide-spaced gills

Cone head (Conocybe sp.) -- conical cap, small

Agrocybe praecox group

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Look for mass fruitings of this mushroom in spring and summer on wood chips around trees or in mulched city gardens. The smooth, rounded cap when young looks very different from the flatter cap of an older specimen, often with wrinkles and so many cracks it appears almost honey-combed.

Make your cigar-smoking friends take a look at the beautiful "cigar brown" spore prints with this mushroom.

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