Agrocybe Genus

Key to Gilled Mushrooms Key

This 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 Order

Fruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)

Brown, Olive, Orange or Tan Spored Suborder

Gills 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

Lignicolous Brown Spored Family

Growing on wood

Medium To Big Lignicolous Brown Spored Subfamily

Cap usually more than 2" across, and sometimes up to 8; usually tan, yellow, or pumpkin-colored

Agrocybe Genus Fayod

Diagnosis

Cap dull brown to tan; glabrous (occasionally slimy or viscid); often cracking open like an overripe tomato in age; usually 2-3" across
Fruits in great quantity in wood chips in the springtime
Growing either on hardwood or in grass

Microscropic Characters

Spores elliptical, or truncate from the apical pore

Comments

Well, we're lacking in documentary photographs of Agrocybes at the moment; we had a very unusual Spring in that almost no Agrocybes fruited
In the meantime, the one image will do; few groups of fungi are more homogenous in appearance. They usually just come up straight and chunky, not all gracile like in the painting
The colors given for the species are all when young and fresh; like all mushrooms, they tend to fade and become more beize-ish as they age, but more so than normal because they usually grow out in the sun
In the meantime, for a really nice photograph of an actual Agrocybe, I recommend http://www.cx.sakura.ne.jp/~kinoko/01eng/agrocybe_semiorbicularis1.htm and
http://www.cx.sakura.ne.jp/~kinoko/01eng/agrocybe_farinacea01.htm

Narrow down your identification:

Agrocybe acericola

Cap up to 4" across; yellowish brown
With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus
Gills sometimes subdecurrent
On hardwoods, especially wood chips
Often with white rhizomorphs

Agrocybe dura

Cap up to 4" across; soft, like suede or kid leather; often deeply cracked in age; white to pale beige
With a fragile partial veil that usually just leaves scraps on the stalk and cap margin
In meadows, lawns, empty lots, under hedges
Often with white rhizomorphs

Agrocybe erebia

Cap up to 2 1/4" across, with a low, broad umbo; dark brown or dark reddish brown; slimy or viscid when fresh; often drying in hygrophanous zones, with the disk and margin remaining darker than the tissue in between
With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus
Gills often subdecurrent
On the ground in cultivated areas and damp woods

Agrocybe firma

Cap up to 3" across, with a low, broad umbo; blackish brown
Partial veil evanescent
With white rhizomorphs
On hardwood

Agrocybe pediades

Cap up to 1 1/4" across; yellowish beige
Partial veil evanescent
In grassy areas

Agrocybe praecox

Cap up to 4" across; some shade of light brown
With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus
On hardwoods, especially wood chips
Often with white rhizomorphs

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Agrocybe Genus

Agrocybe Genus

Fruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)

Gills 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

Growing on wood

Cap usually more than 2" across, and sometimes up to 8; usually tan, yellow, or pumpkin-colored

Agrocybe Genus Fayod

Diagnosis

Microscropic Characters

Comments

Narrow down your identification:

Cap up to 4" across; yellowish brown With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus Gills sometimes subdecurrent On hardwoods, especially wood chips Often with white rhizomorphs

Cap up to 4" across; soft, like suede or kid leather; often deeply cracked in age; white to pale beige With a fragile partial veil that usually just leaves scraps on the stalk and cap margin In meadows, lawns, empty lots, under hedges Often with white rhizomorphs

Cap up to 3" across, with a low, broad umbo; blackish brown Partial veil evanescent With white rhizomorphs On hardwood

Cap up to 1 1/4" across; yellowish beige Partial veil evanescent In grassy areas

Cap up to 4" across; some shade of light brown With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus On hardwoods, especially wood chips Often with white rhizomorphs

Gills 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

Cap up to 4" across; yellowish brown
With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus
Gills sometimes subdecurrent
On hardwoods, especially wood chips
Often with white rhizomorphs

Cap up to 4" across; soft, like suede or kid leather; often deeply cracked in age; white to pale beige
With a fragile partial veil that usually just leaves scraps on the stalk and cap margin
In meadows, lawns, empty lots, under hedges
Often with white rhizomorphs

Cap up to 3" across, with a low, broad umbo; blackish brown
Partial veil evanescent
With white rhizomorphs
On hardwood

Cap up to 1 1/4" across; yellowish beige
Partial veil evanescent
In grassy areas

Cap up to 4" across; some shade of light brown
With a fragile but membranous partial veil forming a persistent annulus
On hardwoods, especially wood chips
Often with white rhizomorphs