Clouded Agaric

Description

The clouded agaric is a large, fleshy mushroom with a cap 5–15 cm across, greyish or ash-grey, covered with a whitish bloom when young. It has crowded, white to cream gills running down the stem and a thick, white to greyish stem with a swollen base. The flesh is white and firm, with a variable smell, usually unpleasant.

It is one of the most numerous mushrooms of late autumn: it grows from September to November in deciduous and coniferous forests, usually in large groups, often in rings. In Poland it is very common.

Today it is classified as poisonous, because even a small portion can cause gastrointestinal complaints in many people. It can be confused with the poisonous livid pinkgill, which has pink gills. If in any doubt, do not collect it.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 5–15 cm (up to 25 cm according to some descriptions); at first convex, then low and arched, finally flat or depressed, usually with a broad, blunt umbo; margin inrolled for a long time. Fleshy, non-hygrophanous, whitish-frosted in young specimens. Colour from white-grey through grey to ash-grey with a brownish tint, margin paler.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills low, thin, crowded, decurrent onto the stem (attached to shortly decurrent according to some descriptions, often forked). First white, then ochre-cream, with brown spots in older specimens.

Stem

Height 6–12 cm, thickness up to 3 cm, fibrous on the outside. Club-shaped and solid in young specimens, later cylindrical, cottony or hollow; always thickened at the base. Colour white to pale grey, usually paler than the cap. No ring described.

Flesh

White, firm, thick, fleshy, does not change colour when cut. Smell very variable: mealy, spicy or rancid; perceived by most people as unpleasant. Do not taste it.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white to cream (pale yellowish according to some descriptions). Spores ellipsoid, smooth, colourless, 6–7 × 3 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial saprotroph. On old fruiting bodies it is sometimes a fungicolous parasite, Volvariella surrecta (piggyback rosegill), which deforms the caps.

Distribution. North America, Europe and Asia; also reported from Morocco and New Zealand. In Central Europe common everywhere, in Poland very common; one of the most numerous late-autumn mushrooms. Grows in deciduous (especially beech) and coniferous (on spruce needles) forests, usually in large groups of as many as hundreds of fruiting bodies, not infrequently forming "fairy rings". Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From September to November.

What can it be confused with?

• Entoloma sinuatum (livid pinkgill) — A poisonous species; it has pink, sinuate gills, while the clouded agaric has white to cream, decurrent gills.
• Clitocybe robusta — Has a more uniformly white cap.
• Clitocybe irina — Has a pinkish spore print.
• Leucopaxillus giganteus, Leucopaxillus albissimus, Tricholoma saponaceum, Infundibulicybe geotropa — Similar: L. giganteus is whiter, I. geotropa has a pale brown cap; other differences: no data.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• In 1953 the Swedish chemists Löfgren, Lüning and Hedström isolated nebularine from this species.
• It often grows in large groups of hundreds of fruiting bodies, sometimes forming "fairy rings".
• Old fruiting bodies are sometimes parasitised by the piggyback rosegill (Volvariella surrecta).
• The species has been moved between the genera Clitocybe, Lepista and Gymnopus, and finally returned to Clitocybe.