Volvariella bombycina

Tree Volvariella

Order Agaricales, Family Pluteaceae 

CAP EMERGES FROM EGG, WHITE

Cap:  5-20 cm wide; emerges from egg, becoming bell-shaped then approaching flat; white, sometimes yellowish; covered with fibrils, especially at edge

GILLS FREE, PINK

Gills:  free; broad, crowded; white becoming pinkish

STALK WITH SAC-LIKE CUP AT BASE

Stalk:  6-20 cm, 1-3 cm thick; dry

Universal veil:  egg-like universal veil leaves prominent cup at base; no ring

SPORE PRINT PINKISH

Spores 6.5-10.5 x 4.5-7 µm, elliptical, smooth

ON WOOD

EDIBLE

Lookalikes:

Amanita sp. -- white spores

Pluteus cervinus -- no volva (cup) at base of stem; brown cap

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We've found this mushroom in wounded or dying maple trees and occasionally elms. Once, a specimen was growing from a hole in a Maple where a branch had broken off the main trunk.  (This is one of the few mushrooms you have to look up to find, not down. Then you have to brave climbing a tree to pick it.)

A related species, Volvariella volvaceae, is the popular "straw mushroom" in Asian cuisine.  Available in most Asian markets, the canned, cultivated variety looks attractive, but has no taste that we can discern.  We're confident the wild variety tastes better, but we don't know anyone who's eaten it.