A small reddish-brown parachute mushroom with a pleated, navel-centered cap and a dark, velvety stem. It smells strongly of rotting or sour cabbage. It grows in clusters on fallen hardwood sticks and branches.
Inedible because of its foul odor and taste. No toxicity data were found.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Saprobic, in clusters on fallen sticks, limbs and logs of hardwoods; also photographed on wood mulch. Summer (July to September per MushroomExpert.com).
Distribution
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Europe, including Britain and Ireland; eastern North America (for example Pennsylvania and Maryland) and Texas.
Characteristics
Cap: 1-3 cm, with a sunken navel-like center and striations running to a pleated margin; reddish brown, fading to tan. Gills: attached to a collar, yellowish to pinkish-buff, becoming reddish-tinged. Stem: 2-3 cm long, 1-1.5 mm thick, brown to dark brown, velvety and tough, cottony at the base; no veil. Odor: strong and unpleasant, like sour cabbage; taste disagreeable. Spore print: white. Spores: about 7-8.7 x 3.5-4.5 um, oval, smooth (Maryland Biodiversity Project).
