Hi everybody! Here's the 12th in this early season ID guide for South Australian edible mushrooms. This one is about that easy to find, easy to identify Stubble Rosegill.
Phylum: Basidiomycota. Class: Agaricomycetes. Order: Agaricales. Family: Pluteaceae
Stubble Rosegills (Volvopluteus gloiocephalus) are a common sight on ovals and lawns. Their shiny, silvery caps make them easy to spot. Luckily, too, they are one of the mushrooms that cane found at almost any time of day. They have a characteristic, sack like structure at the base of their stem. This is called a ‘volva’ amd is the remnant of the veil that once covered the gills when the mushroom was immature.
Their moist, white flesh has a pleasant, but not strong taste (some sources suggest ‘radish-like’) and is best added to soups. The mushrooms do not preserve well for long periods and are not good for drying.
You’ll also see Stubble Rosegills listed in books under the names Volvariella gloiocephala or Volvaria speciosa var. gloiocephala or even Volvariella speciosa var. gloiocephala depending on who wrote them , where and when.
Identifying Stubble Rosegills – a summary
- Cap is grey and shiny, almost silvery at a distance.
- The cap is oval and sticky when young and dry at maturity when it flattens out and changes to tan colour.
- Flesh is white
- Gills are crowded and white at first, then becoming pink with age. They are free from the stem.
- Stem is white, solid and tapers toward the cap, there is no ring.
- There is a fleshy bulb like structure (volva) at the base.
- Spore print is a rusty, cinnamon colour. Note – some sources say the spore print is pink.
- A cinnamon brown spore print.
Warning
The only other mushrooms occurring in this area that have a volva at the base are species of Amanita, the ingestion of which can be fatal. The young Stubble Rosegills have white gills, as do the Amanitas but those of the Rosegills turn pink as the mushroom matures, Those on an Amanita stay white. Please be very cautious.
