Central Pennsylvania Wild Mushroom Club

While walking through the park last year I came across a large pile of (mostly oak) leaves that had been gathered by the maintenance crew and deposited at an out of the way location.  I thought to myself that pile of leaves would one day produce mushrooms.  Well, the other day I passed by that pile of leaves and it had indeed produced mushrooms -hundreds of mushrooms.  A photo of several of them is shown below. 

Both Barrie and Bill identified the mushroom for me, although they called it by different names.  The common name is the Onion-Stalk Parasol, I suppose because of the long, bulbous stem of the specimens on the left.  Bill referred to the mushroom as Lepiota cepastipes.  As can be seen in the photo,  the mushrooms on the left clearly do have many characteristics of the Lepiota genus.  Barry called the mushroom Leucocoprinus cepastipes, a synonym used by many mycologists because of the sometimes powdery or mealy striate caps of these mushrooms. 

Although I may have two species in the photo, I believe they are all the same.  I believe the heavy rain simply washed the brown powder from the specimens on the right.  From a distance they looked like a clutch of eggs laying there on the leaves.  On closer inspection the tan, umbonate center became obvious.  I visited this patch a few days prior to taking the photo and at that time saw a number of the very firm, tan buttons, as on the left.  When I returned, I searched among the many white mushrooms for the tan mushrooms I expected there.  It took me a moment to realize the tan buttons had formed the white mushrooms with tan scales that I was then observing.  One additional identification clue is that the stem often stains yellow on handling, which gradually fades to tan. 

This mushroom is obviously a saprophyte and would seem an excellent candidate for anyone looking to speed the decomposition of composting leaves.  Barrie notes it sometimes grows on wood chips as well as leaf litter.  It used to be listed as edible but has caused bad reactions in some people so consumption is no longer advised, and the flesh is relatively thin.  Although the differences are many once you know what to look for, I will note the great danger in eating any white, white gilled mushroom with which you are not familiar.  I posted several photos last year of the white Death Angel, Amanita virosa.  Yeah, it's common in this area and the name of that mushroom should be reason enough to know it so well that it can never be confused with anything you eat. 

The Onion-Stalk Parasol typically grows in large groups or clusters.  I found it several years ago growing in large clusters on a leaf pile, similar to this find.  That find however was in July, this is May.  Barrie says the early appearance of this and the other typical "summer" mushrooms recently reported is likely due to the frequent rains we've had this spring.  I say let it rain, let it rain, let it rain. 

Dave