Plant Guide > Mushrooms > Genus Lepiota > Lepiota Naucinoides

Lepiota Naucinoides

Lepiota naucinoides

Smooth Lepiota

Cap or Pileus - Smooth, white; rarely the central part of the cap is tinged with a smoky hue. 2-4 inches broad.

Stem or Stipe - Coloured like the cap; thickened at the base. Hollow or webby. 2-3 inches long.

Veil ar Annulus - White. External edge generally thicker than the inner; often movable on the stem.

Gills or lamellae - White when Young; when old, pinkish or smoky brown. Rounded at the inner extremity and not attached to the stem. Narrower toward the stem than in the middle.

Spores - White, sub-elliptical.

Flesh - Thick, white, and tender.

Time -August-November.

The smooth lepiota resembles the chalk agaric (Agaricus cretaceous), which has brown spores, and the meadow mush room (Agaricus campestris), which has darker gills, a persistent collar, and a stem tapering at the base.

No harm can come from confusing these for edible purposes. Great care should be taken to be sure that a specimen thought to be a smooth lepiota has no volva or wrapper at the base, for the absence of a volva is the most marked difference between it and the poisonous vernal amanita (Amanita verna).

The gills of the smooth lepiota turn a dingy brown or pink, and those of the vernal amanita remain white ; and the cap of the smooth lepiota has not the moist smoothness and the brilliant whiteness of the vernal amanita.