A very common inky cap that grows in dense clusters on decaying hardwood stumps, logs and buried roots, often in towns. Young honey-brown to amber caps are dusted with glistening, mica-like granules that rain soon washes off. The gills blacken and partly dissolve with age.
Edible when young, before the gills blacken and dissolve; cook soon after picking. Unlike Coprinopsis atramentaria, it is not reported to contain coprine. It can accumulate lead and cadmium, so avoid roadside or polluted sites. Look-alikes: Coprinopsis atramentaria (larger, grayer, no granules; contains coprine, which causes illness with alcohol); Coprinopsis variegata (scaly, edibility disputed). Full safety details in notes.
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Habitat
Saprobic in clusters on or near decaying hardwood stumps, logs and buried roots, so it can appear to grow from soil. Common on lawns, roadsides, gardens and building sites as well as in woods. Spring to fall, most abundant in spring and autumn, often recurring at the same spot.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan; widespread in North America, north to Alaska, and also in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Characteristics
Cap: 2-5 cm, oval becoming bell-shaped or broadly convex; honey brown, tawny or amber, paler toward the margin; young caps with glistening mica-like granules; margin grooved halfway or more to the center. Gills: attached or free, crowded, pale becoming brown then black, partly deliquescing. Stem: 2-8 cm long, 3-6 mm thick, equal, white, hollow, smooth to very finely hairy. Flesh: thin, soft, whitish. Odor and taste: not distinctive. Spore print: black. Spores: 7-11 x 4-7 µm, mitriform (bishop's-hat-shaped) to subelliptical, smooth, with a central pore.
