Shaggy inkcap

How to recognise it: shaggy inkcap

1. 1

   Tall, cylindrical, white cap with raised scales

2. 2

   Gills from white through pink to black, dissolving

3. 3

   Movable ring on a hollow stem

4. 4

   Lawns and verges, often in towns

Description

Cap

Tall (5–15 cm), egg-shaped, then cylindrical to bell-shaped; white with a bare ochre-brown top, covered with coarse, raised, overlapping (shingled) scales; from the margin turns pink, black and dissolves.

Gills

Gills very crowded, white, then pink, finally black and dissolving. Spore print black.

Stem

6–20 cm, white, slender, hollow, easily breaks away from the cap; with a white, movable ring that often slips down to the base.

Flesh

White, thin and brittle in the cap; turns black as it matures.

Smell and taste

Smell pleasant, indistinct; taste mild.

Where and when it grows

Near people: lawns (especially newly laid ones), gardens, parks, road and street verges, fertilised meadows, rubbish dumps, forest edges; saprotrophic, usually gregarious.

Where are conditions good today?

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Common inkcap Edible with care medium risk

  The common inkcap has a SMOOTH, grey or grey-brown cap without raised white scales, grows in clusters by stumps and buried wood, and causes poisoning when combined with alcohol. Pick only white, scaly specimens.

In the kitchen

Cook immediately after picking (preferably within a few hours), because it dissolves quickly; not suitable for storing or drying. For soups, dark sauces, fried in batter; do not drown it in garlic.

Protection and sale

• Species protection: the species is not protected.
• Sale: the species is on the list of mushrooms approved for sale (it may be sold only with a mushroom inspector’s certificate). Listed in Annex 1 as “czernidłak kołpakowaty – Coprinus comatus”.

Where you may pick mushrooms →