Toxic
Ivory funnel
Clitocybe dealbata, C. rivulosa
The character that does the work
Small, white, funnel-shaped, decurrent gills, growing in grass. The fairy ring champignon that people pick has widely spaced gills that do NOT run down the stem, and a tough pliable stem.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
2 to 5 cm, white to buff, often with a faint frosted or watermarked zoning, flattening then becoming funnel-shaped.
02Underside
Crowded white gills running down the stem.
03Stem, and the base
Short, whitish, no ring.
04Flesh, cut
White, thin.
05Spore print
White to cream
How to take one06Where it grows
Grass. Lawns, verges, dunes and pasture, often in rings alongside edible species.
When to look
Typically Jul to Nov in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
Common across Europe and North America.
What is worth knowing about it
Contains muscarine at a far higher concentration than the fly agaric, and produces the classic cholinergic syndrome within half an hour: sweating, salivation, streaming eyes, blurred vision, slowed heart. Distressing and occasionally dangerous, though it responds well to atropine, so the delay in this poisoning is measured in minutes rather than the days that make amatoxins so lethal.
Confused with
- Fairy ring champignon
- Miller
- St George's mushroom
This page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
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