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)
Agaricus GenusGills free
Spore print chocolate brown
Annulus almost always present, usually membranous
The gills are usually pink or silvery-grey at first, but are colored chocolate brown at maturity from the developing spores
The cap and stalk are usually some sort of white or greyish brown, but may have fibrils or scales that are darker (like the portobello)
Growing on the ground, wood chips, or other organic debris
Xanthodermati Section
Diagnosis
- Flesh at the base of the stalk staining yellow when cut
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Odor phenolic (sometimes faintly)
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Flesh turning yellow in KOH
Comments
This is the group of poisonous Agaricuses. I thought we were blessed with their absence, but Pat Leacock has found A. placomyces in Southern Illinois
Narrow down your identification:
Agaricus placomycesCap greyish or silvery white; covered with tiny dark grey or greyish brown fibrils, or scaly tufts of fibrils
Flesh sometimes turning yellowish or pinkish if crushed
Sometimes with brown droplets on the underside of the unbroken veil; these leave brown stains on the veil when it breaks to form the annulus
Sometimes smelling phenolic
