This mushroom may remind inexperienced mushroom pickers of the popular Parasol mushroom, only small. Nothing could be more wrong. This is the Freckled dapperling (Echinoderma asperum or Lepiota aspera), which is not poisonous, but its repulsive smell and sour taste will quickly correct the lack of knowledge of an amateur collector.
In the genus Echinoderma, mycologists distinguish about 50 species, including several poisonous ones, so I do not recommend collecting Freckled dapperling even to those who do not mind their smell and taste.
The fungus can be found almost throughout Europe, North America and parts of Asia. In Europe, it appears already in July and grows until October. Its habitat is coniferous, deciduous and mixed forests. It often grows in leaves, on roadsides in bushes, thickets, sometimes in ditches.
The young mushroom has a bell-shaped conical cap, but becomes flat when mature and can reach about 12-15 cm in diameter. The color of the hat is deceptively reminiscent of an edible hedgehog.
It has a brownish color, covered with brown scales. These scales are pointed, conical, and somewhat like spikes.
The white lamellae are narrow, tightly set, forked. In young mushrooms, you can see a characteristic membrane covering the gills, which persists for quite a long time.
The leg, which is 10-12 cm tall, has a whitish color. It shows a distinct hanging collar, colored similarly to the hat. The lower part of the stem is thicker, bulbous. In cross-section, the leg is hollow.
The white flesh is quite fleshy, compact, but has a very unpleasant, almost fetid smell and taste. Although not poisonous, it is not edible.
There are about 11 species of echinoderma similar to each other. They all have sharpened warts or scales on the cap, and distinguishing them requires very good knowledge and examination under a microscope.
