Horse mushroom

Latin name: Agaricus arvensis Schaeff.
French name: Psalliote des jachères
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricales
Synonym(s): Psalliota cretacea (Fr.) Kum.

Description

Micro-habitat(s)

Litter

Distribution

Eastern Canada

Damage, symptoms and biology

Humicolous species with a cap (5 to 20 cm in diameter) that is initially white, then turns cream-coloured and increasingly yellow over time. The flesh is white, thick and firm and has a pleasant smell. It turns yellow when bruised and following exposure to the air. The gills are close, free and numerous. They are whitish to pinkish at first, become more gray with age and finally blackish brown at maturity. The stem is hollow and has a slightly enlarged base and a double skirt-like ring that is floccose on the undersurface. This species produces purple-brown spores.

Other information

This mushroom is highly edible. Be careful not to confuse it with the amanitas, some of which are toxic and even fatal.

Habitats : fields and pastures, sometimes in fairy rings.