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Lamellar mushrooms are also known as agarics because the undersides of their caps are covered with lamellar structures. These species belong to very different species, many of which are not easily distinguished.
mushrooms
These lamellar mushrooms are among the most popular edible mushrooms because they are low in energy and have a subtle and unobtrusive aroma. Some species are distinguished by a specific smell. Specimens that grow in very sunny locations are rich in vitamin D. The firm flesh, which is usually whitish in color, is typical of mushrooms. The initially hemispherical cap bulges with age and is usually flattened in the middle or slightly dented. Good distinguishing features from other species are the striking colors of the lamellae. The palette ranges from whitish gray to pink to chocolate brown. Since these lamellar fungi can easily be confused with poisonous species for the layperson, further identification features should be used.
Tip: If you find mushrooms that smell like carbolic acid or something similar to what you might find in a medicine cabinet, stay away. Species that turn yellow at the base of the stem and do not develop a perceptible aniseed odor are also suspected of being poisonous.
Small forest mushroom
Source: H. Krisp, Small Wood Mushroom Agaricus silvaticus, Edited from Plantopedia, CC BY 3.0
- scientific name: Agaricus silvaticus
- Synonyms: Small Forest Egerling or Small Blood Egerling
- very good edible mushroom with a pleasant mushroom aroma, mild to sweet
- Cap: up to ten centimeters wide, light ocher colored, has small brownish fibrous scales that lie close together
- Lamellae: pale pink when young, later chocolate brown to almost black
- Stalk: lighter than the cap, turns red when injured
- Special features: Meat reddens when cut
- Habitat: mainly in the pine litter of spruce trees
- Confused with giant mushroom
giant mushroom
Source: IKAl, IKAl 20110818 Agaricus augustus, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Agaricus augustus
- Synonym: Giant Egerling
- Smell and taste: fine and nutty almond aroma
- Cap: serrated to cracked surface, ochre, hazel or dark brown scales on a creamy white to ocher background
- Lamellae: initially greyish to flesh-colored, becoming pinkish-brownish to chocolate-brown with age
- Stem: creamy white, surface yellows when touched
- Special features: Meat does not redden when cut, but turns yellowish to rusty or reddish brown
- Habitat: mainly in the pine litter of old spruce forests
- Confused with small forest mushroom
White aniseed mushroom
Source: © Salix / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 & GFDL, 2008-08-Agaricus-Stuttgartx8-side, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Agaricus arvensis
- Synonyms: common aniseed Egerling, sheep mushroom
- Lamellar mushrooms are distinguished by a pleasant aniseed aroma
- Cap: white to off-white, dirty yellow on apex
- Lamellae: initially whitish, later whitish-grey or whitish-pink, finally reddish-grey to black-brown
- Stem: colored like the hat with a strong and flaky ring
- Habitat: On meadows and pastures or in parks, never in forests
- Confused with inedible carbolic mushroom and poisonous spring death cap
Notice: The spring death cap can be identified by a lobed sheath. In addition, the lamellae are always colored pure white.
Meadow Mushroom
Source: This image was created by user Byrain at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images. You can contact this user here. Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Agaricus campestris
- Synonyms: field or meadow negerling
- Odor and taste: non-specific
- Cap: white to grey-whitish, later with brownish flat scales
- Lamellae: rich flesh-pink early on and finally chocolate-brown
- Stem: white, yellowish ocher at the base
- Special features: grows in so-called witch rings after heavy rainfall
- Habitat: moderately fertilized meadows, pastures and paddocks
- Confused with poisonous carbolic mushroom and death cap mushrooms
chanterelles
These species are medium-sized mushrooms, known by laypeople as lamellar mushrooms. From a mycological point of view, the spore deposits under the cap are formed as so-called ridges, which are very similar to the lamellae. Their fruit bodies are reminiscent of the shape of a coral with an irregularly convex cap and ridges running down the stem, which are often forked or connected by transverse lines. Chanterelles are one of the popular edible mushrooms whose flesh is crisp and firm. The species can easily be confused with the false chanterelle. This is poisonous in large quantities and, unlike chanterelles, does not have a pungent taste.
Real chanterelle
Real Chanterelle, Source: Andreas Kunze, 2007-07-14 Cantharellus cibarius, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Cantharellus cibarius
- Synonyms: chanterelle, rehling
- Smell and taste: aromatic fruity scent, tastes pleasant and slightly pungent
- Cap: funnel-shaped and pale to yolk yellow or lemon yellow
- Last: colored like the hat
- Stem: hat-colored, short and often curved
- Habitat: in mixed forests
velvet chanterelle
Source: Vavrin, Cantharellus friesii I Posazavi CZ, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Cantharellus friesii
- Synonyms: Friesian chanterelle, reddish chanterelle
- very good edible mushroom, tastes peppery hot and smells aromatic fruity
- Cap: funnel-shaped and velvety to shaggy, colored orange to orange-yellow
- Last: yellowish to whitish colored
- Stem: finely felted surface, whitish at the base and yellowish towards the top
- Features: thin flesh
- Habitat: in deciduous forests
Purple chanterelle
Amethyst Chanterelle (Cantharellus amethysteus), Danny Steven, Forest Mushroom006, Edited from Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
- scientific name: Cantharellus amethysteus
- Synonyms: Amethyst-scaled chanterelle
- Smell and taste: pleasantly spicy and peppery, but mild, fresh smell of apricots
- Cap: yellow with violet scales that often appear zoned
- Last: yellowish
- Stem: yellowish with red spots, often browning at the base
- Habitat: in deciduous and coniferous forests
Giant Umbrellas
These species are lamellar mushrooms from the champignon family. They are noticeably large and grow in an umbrella-like manner, with young mushrooms having a spherical cap. The scaly fruiting body is typical of these specimens. The scales appear during development when the cap skin tears open. They are characteristically arranged in concentric shapes and appear fibrous to clumpy. The ring on the handle can be moved on all giant parasols. This feature distinguishes the species from similar mushrooms, which can be poisonous or inedible. But even within this genus, not all species are edible.
Gloomy Giant Umbrella
- scientific name: Macrolepiota procera var. fuliginosa
- Synonyms: Sooty brown giant umbrella fungus
- Lamellar mushrooms with a pleasantly mild taste
- Cap: maroon star-shaped scales on whitish background, humped center blackish-brown
- Lamellae: initially whitish to cream-colored, later tinged with pink
- Stem: Brown serrations on a light background, later dark brown to reddish brown
- Special features: darker variety of parasol mushroom, whose flesh does not redden
- Habitat: in forests and parks, on meadows and pastures or in the garden
- Confused with Toxic Parasol Mushroom, which occasionally grows on the compost
parasol mushroom
Giant Parakeet (Macrolepiota procera)
- Scientific name: Macrolepiota procera
- Synonyms: common giant parasol, giant parasol mushroom
- very good edible mushroom with a pleasant nutty aroma
- Hat: light brown with soft woolly scales that grow in zones
- Lamellae: soft, free and colored white
- Stem: tough and fibrous, light brownish with dark brown serrations
- Habitat: preferably in mixed forests and at the edges of forests
- Confused with inedible Pointed-Scale Spiny Parakeet or Poison Saffron Parakeet
Red giant parasol
- Scientific name: Macrolepiota permixta
- Odor and taste: pleasantly mild
- Cap: covered with burgundy scales, changes color to burgundy when rubbed, later brown to black
- Lamellae: colored white
- Stem: Meat on the stalk turns distinctly orange-red after cutting
- Specialties: A variety of parasol mushroom whose flesh reddens when injured
- Habitat: clear spots in deciduous forests
mutabilis
This genus of lamellar fungi includes two species native to Europe, one of which is edible. The mushrooms are small to medium-sized and have a conspicuously shiny cap, some of which appear greasy. It has a flat hump in the middle. Although mutabilis develop thin-fleshed hats, the edible species is a popular edible mushroom. The sociable appearance is typical of the lamellar fungi. The wood dwellers always appear in smaller tuft-like groups.
Real stick sponge
Source: Björn S… , Sheathed Woodtuft - Kuehneromyces mutabilis (38110246372), Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
- scientific name: Kuehneromyces mutabilis
- Odor and taste: mild aroma, pleasantly spicy to nutty
- Cap: Light, dark or hazel brown with a bleached center, often covered with brownish scales
- Lamellae: Light, nut or cinnamon brown, narrow and densely packed with intermediate lamellae, slightly decurrent
- Stem: Yellow-white colored with scales off-white or chestnut to yellow-brown, dark brown at the base
- Special Features: Stem is necessary for species identification
- Habitat: On dead wood of deciduous trees
- Confusion with inedible smooth-stemmed mutabilis or honey fungus
Rubella funnellets
Mushroom species of this genus are medium to large in size and are characterized by fleshy hats and stalks. Their appearance is striking, because they do not appear alone, but sometimes form large witch rings. A typical identification feature consists in the easily detachable lamellae, which are developed underneath the violet to bluish or greyish colored cap. The fruiting body itself may appear domed, spreading, or funnel-shaped. The smell that each species develops is characteristic. Their taste is often rounded off with a sweet note. All lamellar mushrooms from this genus are non-toxic. However, the species can be confused with the tiger knightling or fragrant funnelling, which are poisonous.
violet knightling
Source: Wilhelm Zimmerling PAR, Violet Knight on the Geschwister-Scholl-Weg Ruhland, "Heldenhain" near Heinestraße 09, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- scientific name: Lepista irina
- Synonyms: Violet-Redtelritterling
- Odor and taste: sweetish violet scent, tastes pleasantly mild
- Cap: light to beige brownish or creamy brown, yellowish brownish in the middle
- Lamellae: creamy white, pink or light brownish
- Stem: whitish, turning brown at bruises
- Habitat: in mixed forests, preferably deciduous forests
Violet Red Knightling
Source: Dominicus Johannes Bergsma, Zwammen op composthoop 03, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Lepista nuda
- Lamellar mushrooms are very good edible mushrooms with a mild, nutty mushroom aroma
- Cap: purple in color with varying shades of blue or purple, browning with age
- Lamellae: lilac to blue-lilac, never brownish
- Stem: bare and somewhat flaky, slightly fibrous to fluffy, pale lilac
- Special features: often occurs in large numbers
- Habitat: prefers deciduous forests, but also in mixed forests
russula
Many of these lamellar mushrooms are considered good edible mushrooms. In order to clearly identify russula, the color of the cap, lamellae and stem as well as the spore powder are important. You can use the russula rule to distinguish inedible from edible species, provided you have been able to place the species in this genus with certainty. In Central Europe, those lamellar mushrooms that taste mild to slightly pungent are considered edible. Inedible and poisonous species develop an intensely pungent taste that can set in after two minutes.
Notice: The rule only applies to russula and should only be applied if you have clearly identified the genus.
Female Russula
Source: Björn S… , Charcoal Burner - Russula cyanoxantha (45202732211), Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Scientific name: Russula cyanoxantha
- Synonyms: Green russula
- Odor and taste: mild and pleasant
- Hat: mottled olive green and violet, skin greasy shiny
- Lamellae: colored white, partly with a greenish tinge
- Spore print: colored white
- Stem: initially white, later somewhat yellowish or brownish blotchy
- Habitat: in deciduous and coniferous forests, mostly under beech and oak trees
- Confused with poisonous death cap mushroom
Flesh-red russula
Source: 2007-07-28_Russula_vesca_Fr_30066.jpg.webp: This image was created by user Irene Andersson (irenea) at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images. You can contact this user here. Ak ccm (talk), 2007-07-28 Russula vesca Fr 30066 cropped, Edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- scientific name: Russula vesca
- Odor and taste: very pleasant and mildly nutty
- Cap: brownish to flesh-colored
- Lamellae: initially white, yellowish with age, quickly blotched with brown
- Spore print: white
- Stem: thickened at the base, colored white, blotches yellow-brown with age, never reddish
- Special features: often has a shortened hat skin
- Habitat: in mixed forests
- Confusion with Speitäublingen possible