Shaggy parasol is the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

for three closely related species of

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

, ''Chlorophyllum rhacodes'' (or ''rachodes''), ''C. olivieri'' and ''C. brunneum'', found in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

(the latter species is also found in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Taxonomy

''Chlorophyllum rhacodes'', ''C. olivieri'' and ''C. brunneum'' were formerly known as ''Macrolepiota rhacodes'' or ''Lepiota rhacodes'', but the name was changed on the basis of

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

evidence demonstrating a closer relationship to ''

Chlorophyllum molybdites ''Chlorophyllum molybdites,'' which has the common names of false parasol, green-spored Lepiota and vomiter, is a widespread mushroom. Poisonous and producing severe gastrointestinal symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, it is commonly conflated wi ...

'' than to ''

Macrolepiota procera ''Macrolepiota procera'', the parasol mushroom, is a basidiomycete fungus with a large, prominent fruiting body resembling a parasol. It is a fairly common species on well-drained soils. It is found solitary or in groups and fairy rings in pas ...

''. The subspecies ''Macrolepiota rhacodes'' var. ''brunneum'' was also elevated to species status as ''Chlorophyllum brunneum''. ''Chlorophyllum olivieri'' is a closely related species that is also eaten as the "Shaggy Parasol". Many reference works spell the epithet "''rachodes''" rather than "''rhacodes''". The spelling "rachodes" was used by Vittadini when he first published the species in 1835, but was erroneous as the Greek word ''rhakos'' 'piece of cloth' should be transcribed as ''rhacos''.

Index Fungorum ''Index Fungorum'' is an international project to index all formal names ( scientific names) in the fungus kingdom. the project is based at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, one of three partners along with Landcare Research and the Institute of M ...

keeps to the original author's spelling, "''rachodes''".

Description

The shaggy parasol is a large and conspicuous

agaric An agaric () is a type of fungus fruiting body characterized by the presence of a pileus (cap) that is clearly differentiated from the stipe (stalk), with lamellae (gills) on the underside of the pileus. In the UK, agarics are called "mushrooms ...

, with thick brown

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

and protuberances on its fleshy white

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

and

spore print 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...

are both white in colour. Its stipe is slender, but bulbous at the base, is coloured uniformly and bears no patterns. It is fleshy, and a reddish, or

maroon Maroon ( US/ UK , Australia ) is a brownish crimson color that takes its name from the French word ''marron'', or chestnut. "Marron" is also one of the French translations for "brown". According to multiple dictionaries, there are var ...

discoloration occurs and a pungent odour is evolved when it is cut. The

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...

-shaped caps become wider and flatter as they mature. The stipe of ''C. brunneum'' grows to tall and has a

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for ...

of 2 to 3 centimetres. The cap grows to across.

Edibility

The shaggy parasol is popularly praised as an

edible mushroom Edible mushrooms are the fleshy and edible fruit bodies of several species of macrofungi (fungi which bear fruiting structures that are large enough to be seen with the naked eye). They can appear either below ground (hypogeous) or above ground ...

. However, it contains

toxins A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1 ...

which can cause gastric upsets and some individuals show a strong allergic response even after cooking. Furthermore, young shaggy parasols look identical to the poisonous ''

'' (the mushroom that causes the most poisonings in North America yearly).Chlorophyllum molybdites
(MushroomExpert.com) Checking for a white spore print is essential as ''C. molybdites'' print is green (older specimens having slightly green gills). As a result, this mushroom is not recommended for inexperienced hunters.

Similar species

The shaggy parasol is similar in appearance to the similarly edible

parasol mushroom ''Macrolepiota procera'', the parasol mushroom, is a basidiomycete fungus with a large, prominent fruiting body resembling a parasol. It is a fairly common species on well-drained soils. It is found solitary or in groups and fairy rings in pas ...

, ''Macrolepiota procera''. The latter grows considerably larger however, and is more likely to be found in the open than ''C. rhacodes'' which prefers more shade and dislikes open

pastures Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

and

fields Fields may refer to: Music *Fields (band), an indie rock band formed in 2006 *Fields (progressive rock band), a progressive rock band formed in 1971 * ''Fields'' (album), an LP by Swedish-based indie rock band Junip (2010) * "Fields", a song by ...

. Another distinguishing feature is that ''C. rhacodes'' lacks the brown bands that are on the stem of ''M. procera''.

Taxonomy

Description

Edibility

Similar species

References

Further reading