Gypsy mushroom

Description

The gypsy mushroom is a medium-sized mushroom with a cap 4–12 cm across, ochre-beige to leathery-yellow, distinctly wrinkled and covered with whitish fibrils, grey-violet in young specimens. It has rusty-brown gills and a solid stem with a whitish, membranous ring and a slightly bulbous base.

It grows from July to October in spruce and pine forests on poor, acidic, sandy soils, often among mosses and cup lichens. In Poland it is common only in some areas.

It can be confused with other webcaps and with the brick-red fibrecap, which is strongly poisonous. That is why the species is not recommended for inexperienced mushroom pickers. If you are not sure of the species, do not pick or eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 4–12 cm; egg-shaped to hemispherical when young, then broadly bell-shaped, flat with a blunt umbo in older ones. Surface wrinkled and furrowed, cracked at the margin in dry weather, covered with whitish fibrils (young fruiting bodies "frosted"). Initially grey-violet or greyish, with remnants of the veil at the margin; then leathery-yellow to beige-brown.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills crowded, notched (attached), clay-yellow in young fruiting bodies, then rusty-brownish; initially covered by a white veil.

Stem

Height 4–15 cm (descriptions give different ranges), thickness 1–3 cm. Cylindrical, solid, bulbous-widened at the base. Colour from whitish through cream to ochre. It has a narrow, whitish-yellowish ring (remnant of the cortina), above which the stem is flaky, below fibrous and striate. The ring is a key identification feature but may vanish in old specimens.

Flesh

White or pale cream. Taste insignificant, smell indistinct (according to some descriptions mild). Do not taste the flesh of unknown mushrooms.

Spore print and spores

Spore print rusty-yellow to ochre-brown. Spores almond-shaped, warty, 10–14 × 7–9 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial mycorrhizal fungus, not selective about hosts. Grows in spruce and pine forests on poor, acidic, sandy soils, moist and dry; often near cup lichens (Cladonia) and white cushion moss (Leucobryum). It does not occur on calcareous substrate. Also found under beech and in heathland.

Distribution. North America, Europe and temperate Asia. In Central Europe, especially in the north, fairly common, elsewhere rare; in Poland common only in some areas. Regarded as vulnerable in Germany and Great Britain, and as threatened in the Netherlands. It is not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. In Poland from July to October.

What can it be confused with?

• Cortinarius traganus (gassy webcap) — Young fruiting bodies with a silvery-violet cap are similar; the webcap has an unpleasant smell and gills covered by the cortina. Inedible.
• Inosperma erubescens (brick-red fibrecap) — In Central Europe in summer, old specimens of the gypsy mushroom can be confused with this strongly poisonous species; detailed differences — no data.
• Phaeolepiota aurea (golden bootleg) — Rare in Poland; cap golden-yellow, ring distinctly striate; according to some descriptions the surface is powdery-granular.
• Other webcaps (Cortinarius spp.), especially mature ones, ochre in colour, that have lost the ring — There are similar, poisonous webcaps, so the mushroom should not be collected by the inexperienced; detailed 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

• For many years called Rozites caperatus; genetic tests in 2000 and 2002 showed that it belongs to the genus Cortinarius.
• The epithet caperatus means "wrinkled" in Latin.
• After the Chernobyl accident in 1986 the level of radioactive caesium in the fruiting bodies rose sharply; the species accumulates much more of it than many other mushrooms.
• In Finland it is called "granny's nightcap" and is sold commercially.