A common, fragile, honey-brown to whitish mushroom of lawns, gardens and trailsides, whose hygrophanous cap fades to pale buff and has a margin hung with white veil fragments when young. Long known as Psathyrella candolleana, it became the type species of the genus Candolleomyces in 2020. It varies a good deal in color and robustness, and the name may cover several closely related taxa.
Reported edible but thin and insubstantial, and generally not recommended because small brown lawn mushrooms are hard to identify. Similar lawn and woodchip species include amatoxin-containing Pholiotina rugosa and Galerina species, which have rusty brown rather than dark brown spore prints.
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Habitat
Saprobic; scattered to gregarious in grassy areas, gardens, along trails and near stumps or buried wood. In coastal California it fruits from late fall to mid-winter.
Distribution
Widely reported, including North America, Europe and New Zealand; because the name may include several taxa, regional records need confirmation.
Characteristics
Cap: 1.5-5.5 cm, broadly conic becoming convex; smooth, moist, sometimes cracking in dry weather; light to honey brown, hygrophanous, fading to pale buff; margin wavy, with veil fragments when young. Gills: attached to seceding, narrow, close, pale gray-brown becoming medium brown. Stem: 3-7 cm long, 0.3-0.5 cm thick, equal, hollow, fragile, white and satiny; veil evanescent. Flesh: thin, fragile. Odor and taste: mild. Spore print: dark brown. Spores: 7-9 x 3.5-5 um, elliptical, smooth (MykoWeb, California Fungi).
