Key to Gilled Mushrooms KeyThis is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.
Agaricales OrderFruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)
Black Spored Suborder
Diagnosis
- Spore print black, very dark brown, purplish black, or dark purplish brown, but not fitting the Gomphidiaceae
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Gills usually light grey, becoming black from spores only when very mature
- Spores mostly elliptical, smooth, with an apical pore
Comments
One of the wonderful things about the recent DNA researches is that the traditional black-spored families that used to go here, the Coprinaceae and the Strophariaceae, have been shown to be polyphyletic, so I can ignore them. Before those researches, I would have had to say "well, there are two big groups of black-spored mushrooms now, and there's no way to tell them apart without a microscope, so you should just cheat and skip directly to the genera." But now I can send you directly to the genera and it's actually official!
The genera listed here are "defined" in a very macroscopic way, and species which have the macroscopic characteristics of another genus are cross-referenced
If your mushroom's spore print (and gills, usually) is very dark brown, but the gills are free (not seceding), you have an Agaricus
Narrow down your identification:
Coprinus Genus- All deliquescing fungi go here
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All striate or pleated-capped non-Gomphidius black-spored mushrooms go here (but not randomly wrinkled ones: they go in Psathyrella)
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When young, the cap usually cylindrical, and in any case much taller than it is wide and hugging the stem tightly; the gills at this stage are white, and packed very close together
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Cap usually deliquescing and surviving in age as uplifted tatters or split fragments
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Cap often covered with powder or tiny hairs, especially when young
Panaeolus Genus- Gills with a mottled appearance, since the spores mature (and hence darken the gills) in clumps, not evenly
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Cap usually rounded, like half of an egg, and colored some shade(s) of gray and/or brown
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Growing on manure or compost
Psathyrella Genus- Cap up to 2" across; glabrous; often very fragile; some shade (or shades) of brown or gray; usually hygrophanous; sometimes wrinkled (as in the photo)
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Spore print usually dark purplish brown
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With a universal veil that usually persists as a few small, white fragments on the stem, cap, and hanging from the cap margin
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On very well-decayed wood or enriched soil, sometimes in lawns, sometimes in large troops
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Cap usually almost flat at maturity
Stropharia Genus
