Cracking Clitocybe

Description

The cracking clitocybe is a small, whitish mushroom with a cap usually 1–4 cm across, flat or funnel-shaped, cream-ochre to almost white, with a wavy margin. It has white or cream, crowded gills running down a thin stem without a ring. The smell is weak, mushroomy.

It grows from August to December on lawns, meadows, pastures and roadsides, often in rings. Such places are easy to visit and children may play there, which increases the risk of accidental eating.

It can be confused with the fairy ring champignon or the miller, which grow in similar habitats. Do not pick small whitish mushrooms from a lawn for eating if you are not sure of the species.

Identification features

Cap

Small: 9–33 mm (descriptions also give 3–4 cm). Convex to funnel-shaped, with a wavy margin. Surface smooth, slightly powdery, cream-ochre to whitish; when young and moist sometimes brownish translucent with a white "frosting", after drying it becomes uniformly white. With age concentric cracks may form on the cap.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills crowded, white to cream-ochre (according to some descriptions with pink spots), adnate to decurrent, according to some descriptions distinctly decurrent.

Stem

Height 18–31 mm (descriptions also give up to 4 cm), thickness 2–15 mm, cylindrical, fibrous, smooth, whitish to ochre, with whitish mycelial remnants at the base. No ring.

Flesh

Smell light, mushroomy; according to some descriptions no characteristic taste or smell. The flesh must not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores spherical to broadly ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, (3.6–)3.9–4.6(–5.2) × (2.9–)3.4–4.1(–4.5) µm, Q = 1.0–1.3.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial saprotroph, grows among grass in meadows, pastures, lawns, roadsides, clearings, juniper scrub, wasteland and gardens; often forms fairy rings.

Distribution. Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and New Zealand; in Europe common from the Mediterranean to northern Scandinavia. In Poland numerous localities have been reported. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. Usually from August to December.

What can it be confused with?

• Marasmius oreades (fairy ring champignon) — Grows on lawns in similar rings, so there is a risk of confusion. Detailed differences — no data.
• Clitopilus prunulus (the miller) — Listed as a confused species. Detailed differences — no data.
• Clitocybe dealbata (ivory funnel) — Very similar, regarded by some authors as the same species; if distinguished, then on the basis of a more massive fruiting body, less decurrent gills and a tendency of the margin to crack.
• Clitocybe phyllophila and other whitish funnel caps — Listed as a group of similar poisonous species; 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

• The English name "sweating mushroom" comes from the symptoms of poisoning: increased sweating.
• The epithet rivulosa refers to the concentric cracks in the cap skin that appear with age.
• In 2023, on the basis of phylogenetic studies, it was proposed to move the species to the genus Collybia.
• The complex has many Polish names: głąbik oddzielony, lejkówka odbielona, lejkówka strumykowa, lejkówka jadowita.