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
Diagnosis
- Gills with a mottled appearance, since the spores mature (and hence darken the gills) in clumps, not evenly
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Cap usually rounded, like half of an egg, and colored some shade(s) of gray and/or brown
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Growing on manure or compost
- Spores elliptical, with an apical pore
Comments
Like many of the genera of LBMs, this is not an easy group to identify. For instance, I have no idea what species the mushroom in the picture is. None of the species I have descriptions for has an umbo like this
Narrow down your identification:
Panaeolus campanulatusCap at first a fairly deep shade of brown or grey, but fading in the sunlight; shaped like half an egg
Stalk concolorous; often quite long in proportion to its width
Partial veil evanescent, often completely fringing the cap margin with tooth-shaped remnants
Panaeolus semiovatusCap whitish, shaped like half an egg
Stalk concolorous
Annulus present
Panaeolus subbalteatusGills brown (not grey) before becoming black
Cap about penny-sized; surface becomes black near the margin in age
Usually growing in small clusters
