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 SuborderSpore print black, very dark brown, purplish black, or dark purplish brown, but not fitting the Gomphidiaceae
Gills usually light grey, becoming black from spores only when very mature
Coprinus GenusAll deliquescing fungi go here
All striate or pleated-capped non-Gomphidius black-spored mushrooms go here (but not randomly wrinkled ones: they go in Psathyrella)
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
Cap usually deliquescing and surviving in age as uplifted tatters or split fragments
Cap often covered with powder or tiny hairs, especially when young
Small Powdery Inky Section
Diagnosis
- Cap up to 1" high, opening to about the same width; covered with tiny, fragile fragments of universal veil material, which may take the form of either flakes or hairs; greyish brown, with a warmer brown disk
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Stalk hollow, also covered with the same sort of universal veil material
Comments
All my sources give the cap dimensions of these mushrooms as up to 2". I have never found any of them remotely that big; most of them have a cap about 3/4" high. My best guess is that the larger caps listed in the literature are unusual and due to an exceptionally luscious substrate
Narrow down your identification:
Coprinus lagopidesCap covered with tiny, fragile fragments of universal veil material, which may take the form of either flakes or hairs; up to 2" high; greyish brown, with a deeper colored disk
Stalk hollow, also covered with the same sort of universal veil material
Growing on charred wood or burned soil
Coprinus lagopusCap covered with tiny, fragile fragments of universal veil material, which may take the form of either flakes or hairs; up to 2" high; greyish brown, with a warmer brown disk
Stalk hollow, also covered with the same sort of universal veil material
Coprinus micaceusCap up to 2" high/across (usually less than 1"); warm tawny brown, deeper brown at disk.
Universal veil material powdery, sparkling
Coprinus niveusCap up to 5/8" wide while still wrapped to the stem, expanding to up to 1 1/2" across; snow-white, covered with white powder when young; not striate until old
Coprinus radiansUniversal veil material often brown, sometimes white or buff
Often growing indoors; often from a fuzzy yellowish orange mat of mycelium
