A small, long-stemmed dung mushroom with a sticky, hemispherical, pale yellow cap and gills that darken to purplish black. The stem has a thin ring zone, often darkened by falling spores, and is sticky below it. It is the type species of Protostropharia, which was split from Stropharia in 2013.
Cosmopolitan: recorded from North America, Central and South America, Europe, northern Asia, North Africa, Australia and New Zealand; possibly introduced to Australia with livestock.
Characteristics
Cap: 1-4.5 cm, hemispherical, smooth, sticky; light yellow fading to dull yellow or whitish. Gills: adnate, distant, grayish becoming purplish brown to black, with white edges. Stem: 3-12 cm long, 0.2-0.5 cm thick, slightly bulbous base, white; silky above a delicate ring zone, sticky below. Odor: not distinctive. Spore print: dark purple. Spores: 16.1-19.0 x 8.8-11.0 um, ellipsoid, smooth, thick-walled with a small germ pore.
