Yellow stainer

How to recognise it: yellow stainer

1. 1

   Stem base turns bright yellow immediately when rubbed or cut

2. 2

   Smell of carbolic/ink, intensifying during cooking

3. 3

   White cap that turns yellow when scratched

4. 4

   Chocolate-brown gills and spore print as in other Agaricus species

Description

Cap

4–15 cm, at first hemispherical with a flattened (“trapezoid”) top, then convex; white to cream, sometimes darker in the centre; light yellow when scratched.

Gills

Gills pinkish-whitish at first, then chocolate-brown; spore print chocolate-brown.

Stem

6–12 cm, white, slender, bulbous at the base; when rubbed the base immediately turns intensely chrome-yellow; ring high on the stem, with a thick rim on its underside.

Flesh

White; when cut – especially in the stem base – quickly chrome-yellow, then turning brown.

Smell and taste

Unpleasant smell of carbolic, ink or iodine, strongest at the stem base and during cooking.

Where and when it grows

Saprotrophic; broadleaf and coniferous forests, parks, gardens, roadsides, scrub and grassy areas, in fertile places rich in organic debris.

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Field mushroom Edible medium risk

  The field mushroom does not turn yellow (or only slightly) and does not smell of carbolic; it has a shorter stem without a bulb and a delicate, vanishing ring.

  Step-by-step comparison: Field mushroom or yellow stainer →

Protection and sale

• Species protection: the species is not protected.
• Sale: the species is not on the list of mushrooms approved for sale.

Where you may pick mushrooms →