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Sidewalk Snack – The Pavement Mushroom

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Just about all of us live in a typical urban environment with pavements, roads and adjacent grassy verges. Because of this, from late spring to autumn, we may have the occasional chance of coming across one of these fellas…

Agaricus bitorquisAs the name suggests, the Pavement Mushroom (Agaricus bitorquis) chooses to flourish mainly in roadside situations and even gardens. But the interesting feature of this edible Agaricus is that it has the amazing capacity to push through the road (asphalt) itself. It’s proof that nature knows no barriers and doesn’t mind upsetting the local Council by wrecking the pavement.

I found this small group only a few centimetres away from the kerb on a street near my home. You’ll notice in the pictures that you can see how they tend to be ‘forcing’ their way out of the ground, pushing the earth aside as they go. You don’t see this with other, similar mushrooms and it’s a good first indication (along with the location) of positive identification.

The small dome shaped cap is the first thing to see, with remnants of earth clinging to the subtle flaky surface. As it grows the cap soon flattens out to around 10 – 12cm in size. Another good identification feature, especially seen when younger, are the two separate rings found on the white stocky stem (see picture: bottom right).

The gills are initially a dark pink to clay in colour and finish chocolate brown at maturity.

This mushroom really does smell ‘mushroomy’, is edible and quite nice to eat. But I have three qualms about eating this mushroom in particular. For one, this mushroom tends to be very mud loving and dirty so a thorough cleaning is required (I’m just too lazy!). The second is that they are often ‘bug munched’ to provide an unappetising visual appearance, and finally (by nature) they live near to the roadside. And depending on how busy that road is, I generally don’t want any pollution in my food.

But this all just a good moan – they are very good indeed.

Agaricus bitorquis

A group of Pavement Mushroom (Agaricus bitorquis) pushing through the tough soil next to an urban city road.

Pavement Mushroom

The Pavement Mushroom pushing through the soil next to a roadside kerb. Notice the double (separated) rings on the stem (bottom right) and the larger, flatter cap of an older specimen (bottom left).

QUICK ID TABLE: PAVEMENT MUSHROOM Agaricus bitorquis

CAP / FLESH

4-12cm across. White. Convex/dome shapes, flattening out. Very faintly flaky. Thick white flesh.

STEM

3-6cm x 1.5-2cm. White with 2 separate sheathing rings.

GILLS / SPORE PRINT

Free. Pink, then clay then chocolate brown.
Spore Print: Brown (see how to take a spore print here).

HABITAT / SEASON

In gardens and roadside verges, sometimes out of the road/asphalt. Late spring – autumn.

EDIBILITY

Edible and Good.

The Genus AGARICUS (Wood Mushrooms/Mushrooms): Characteristics to look out for:

• Many discolour yellowish, reddish or pinkish when cut or bruised.
• Those that discolour bright/chrome yellow should be avoided for consumption.
• Gills in young specimens are often pink (white in a few) – maturing darker brown.
• Make note of any smells, such as aniseed or a typical strong ‘supermarket’ mushroom smell.

March Mottlegill – The Turf Mottlegill

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Spring has arrived and the clocks have gone forward. And like most people, it tends to make me feel a whole lot more happy about things in general. Even so much so that I actually mowed my lawn since before Christmas. This is a good thing, because shorter grass will bring out those early spring mushrooms. Guaranteed.

Turf Mottlegil - Panaeolus fimicolaOK, so these little babies aren’t edible (but neither poisonous) but it’s good to see nature once again spring into life (excuse the pun!), especially when it’s literally in your own back garden. I’m talking of the common Turf Mottlegill (Panaeolus fimicola or Panaeolus ater).

The Mottlegills are a family of small to medium small mushrooms that can occur from spring or summer through to autumn and/or early winter. They get their common name from the ‘mottled’ appearance on their gills (when younger) as the black reproductive spores ‘unevenly’ mature.

These little beauties can pop up in their dozens all around in the short grass, and are initially very hard to spot. I think most of time they go unnoticed. Their caps, when young, are around 1cm in diametre and can grow up to 4.5cm. But if they’re on your own lawn they don’t really last long and get knocked down or crushed. Poor things!

As with many mushrooms, their appearance can change as they mature. In this case it is the colour of the cap and gills. When they first appear, their button small caps are a lovely dark brown (especially when wet) and their gills are a very light brown/greyish colour. After a couple of days the cap dries a paler tan colour, from the edge of the cap inwards. So you can really get some different brown colour combinations going on.

Also, to help with identification, the slender brown stem (around 2-5mm thick) is covered in a very fine white ‘frosty like’ down.

All in all, these are lovely little spring mushrooms, which carry on popping up all the way through until autumn. And as I said, don’t worry, they’re not in the least bit poisonous. They’re too cute for that!

Even though this mushroom is not edible, as always be cautious. There are very similar Panaeolus mushrooms that are poisonous. For example, the common Brown Mottlegill which appears from June to November has been known to contain psilocybin (the psychedelic ‘magic mushroom’ cocktail) which can cause unpleasant symptoms. In fact, even the famous ‘Magic Mushroom’ although not deadly has (and recently discovered) sinister twins which are very dangerous in ways of attacking the liver. It’s best to avoid all these kinds of mushrooms and stick to beer! Hoorah!

Turf Mottlegill Pictures

Young Turf Mottlegill / Drying tan brown from margin / younger pale gills & mature black gills

The Genus PANAEOLUS (Mottlegills): Characteristics to look out for:

• Small pale or brown mushrooms.
• The spores mature unevenly; giving a ‘mottled’ effect on the gills.

Field Mushrooms again… Keep ‘em coming

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I know the Field mushroom is common, I know there are more exotic mushroom finds out there and I know also that you can never have enough of the great Field Mushroom. I love it so…

The Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) is often found in small groups or even rings (though not always, as in this case) but is found commonly in older pasture land and grassland in general, but nowhere near trees of any kind (at least 20 metres from the tree line anyway).

I just wanted to point out and exaggerate the identification tips of this beautifully edible UK mushroom. As well as the typical large white ‘mushroom look’, I’ve shown in the pictures the distinctive pink gills of the younger mushroom (these mature to dark brown), and the ring zone two thirds up the stem, which is very small, sometimes indistinct! So this helps in identification, as the Yellow Stainer mushroom; a sinister (but not deadly) looalike has a much larger, floppy ring zone. See my post on the Yellow Stainer mushroom.

Field Mushroom - Common UK Mushroom

Younger and older examples of the Field Mushroom. Notice the slightly scaly white cap.