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False Parasol

Chlorophyllum molybdites

Photo by Neil Ross
Published on Project Noah
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Field Notes

Description:

I'm fairly certain I've identified this species correctly, but perhaps someone could confirm this for me. Anyway, these fungi are off-white to cream in colour, with darker brown scales scattered on the cap, more densely at the centre, it darkens with age. The juvenile cap can be globose to bell-shaped, aging to convex then plane, with a light umbo (raised apex) and a diameter to 240 mm. Initially, the gills are pallid-whitish but turn pallid-green with age. White above the double ring, darkening below the ring; height up to 280 mm; diameter is even to 10 mm. In this series of photos, some fungi were solitary, but mostly they grew in clusters.

Habitat:

This fungi usually grows in grass, or close to it in soil or leaf litter (as is the case with some of the fungi pictured here). After rain, large numbers of these tall, white fungi with a brown umbo appear in lawns and paddocks in Brisbane. These fungi were growing in a commercial complex in the Brisbane suburb of Murarrie.

Notes:

After considerable rain over a prolonged period, these fungi sprung up everywhere, and they grew rapidly over a period of a couple of days (from memory). In the surrounding garden beds is garden mulch and soil, as well as cow manure, used frequently as fertiliser. Persistent rain always seems to trigger their sudden appearance and growth. After a week or so they seemed darken, wither and die. These fungi are also highly poisonous!

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)

Thanks. I've contacted the Queensland Museum for the correct ID. You're probably right, so hopefully they can confirm it.
I think this is the False parasol (Chlorophyllum molybdites)

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