A secotioid desert mushroom with a tough, woody stem rising from a loose volva and topped by a small disc from which black, gill-like plates hang. It does not dissolve into ink like true inkcaps. It appears after rain in deserts and other dry, sandy places on every continent except Antarctica.
Edibility disputed and poorly documented; not recommended. Some sources list it as inedible.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Saprobic, alone or scattered on sandy to stony soil in deserts, dunes, steppe, dry pastures and other open, arid ground, usually where some vegetation is present; fruits after rain.
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Dry regions on every continent except Antarctica: coastal dunes, deserts and steppes in Africa (including southern Africa), Asia, Europe, North America, South America (including Chile's Atacama Region and Argentina) and Australia. In North America it is recorded from California (MykoWeb California Fungi), and a 2006 paper reported it new to Puerto Rico.
Characteristics
Cap: a small central disc 1.3-3 cm across (up to 5 cm per Wikipedia), convex to flat. Gills: black, wavy, thick, dense and brittle, radiating from the disc. Stem: 2-10 cm long and 4-5 mm thick, cylindrical, hollow and woody; no ring. Volva: whitish and cup-shaped (7-11 mm across) in some specimens, absent in others. Spores: ellipsoid, 10-14 x 6-9 um, dark brown, smooth, with a hyaline germ pore (Chile species assessment).
