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)
Brown, Olive, Orange or Tan Spored SuborderGills not free
Spore print tan, orange, deep ochre, yellowish olive, olive brown, rusty or cinnamon brown or deep brown
Ring usually either absent or not membranous
Bolbitius GenusCap slimy, deliquescing in maturity; striate, at least in maturity
Cap fragile, hollow
Non-yellow Bolbitius Section
Diagnosis
- Cap not yellow at any stage in development
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Usually on decaying wood in the woods, but sometimes on manure or other man-made substrates
Narrow down your identification:
Bolbitius aleuriatusCap up to 1 1/2" across; grey to greyish brown, often with lilac tints, sometimes darker at center
Stalk minutely scurfy; sometimes tinged yellow at the base
Bolbitius coprophilusCap up to 2" across; eggshell white when very young, soon rosy grey; in age completely sulcate and fading to pale greyish brown
On straw and manure
Bolbitius reticulatusCap up to 2" across; smoky lilac, blackish at center, lighter at the edges; slime drying into a network of tiny ridges that cover the cap
