A small, fragile, short-lived mushroom with a sticky, egg-yolk-yellow cap that fades to tan and becomes strongly lined, and a dull cinnamon-brown spore print. It grows on dung, compost, straw, wood chips and fertilized grass. Bolbitius vitellinus, B. fragilis and B. variicolor were separated on inconsistent features and are now included in B. titubans, which is treated as a species group needing study.
Not known to be toxic, but not recommended: it is too thin and fragile to be worth eating. Small brown-spored lawn and dung mushrooms are easy to confuse, and some Conocybe/Pholiotina species in the same family contain amatoxins.
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Habitat
Saprobic; alone, scattered or gregarious on dung, compost, straw, wood chips and fertilized lawns. Robust fruitbodies occur on dung and rich soil, flimsy ones in poorer grass. Summer and fall, and over winter in warm climates.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan: widespread in Europe and North America, and recorded from Asia, Africa, Oceania and South America; absent only from Antarctica.
Characteristics
Cap: 2.5-6 cm, egg-shaped at first, then broadly convex to flat; sticky when fresh; yellow to brownish or greenish yellow, fading to pale tan; strongly lined at maturity. Gills: narrowly attached, close, pale becoming dull cinnamon; may partly gelatinize in wet weather. Stem: 3-12 cm long, 3-6 mm thick, hollow, very fragile, white with a yellowish apex or base, or yellowish overall. Spore print: dull cinnamon brown. Spores: 11-15.5 x 7-9 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, thick-walled, with a germ pore.
