Marasmius oreades

                                                                                                   Scotch Bonnets, Fairy ring champignon, mousseron.

Edibility

These small but tasty edible mushrooms will grow in bright green circles in turf hence their name fairy ring champignon and is another that is in my top 5. The reason the turf goes bright green is due to a hormone the fungi releases. Scotch Bonnet mushrooms contain a protein that allow the mushroom to completely dry out and spring back to life when it rains. This protein give it a very sweet flavour and are perfect for drying and storing. When picking its best to cut with scissors as they can be very dirty. It’s also advisable to wash all the dirt off as the grit can be very off putting. 

Habitat

This mushroom grows in quite large numbers in turf, forming a ring of mushrooms or part of. It is normally found early in the season although can continue on for quite a while due to being present in turfed lawns and sports fields where artificial watering occurs.

Note: Turfed lawns and sports fields usually have a spraying program so you need to be conscious of this before picking. 

Description

Marasmius from the Greek word marasmos, meaning drying out.

oreades  In Greek mythology, the Oreades were mountain nymphs.

This is a great mushroom to start to identify. Although they are quite small they do grow in quite large numbers and can be found in many locations in suburbs around your area meaning you will not have to travel far to locate them. 

Appearance

The Cap is a butterscotch to creamy white depending on age. Usually around 2cm-5cm in diameter. The cap starts out Campanulate (bell shape)  and as it gets older it becomes umbonate meaning it most of the cap is flat but has a bump or lump in the middle, you can clearly see this in the scotch bonnet picture above.

The Gills themselves are spaced widely,cream in colour and adnexed or free from the main stem.The gills also have smaller gills interspersed between them.

The Stem is usually around 4cm-6cm long and around 0.3mm-0.5mm wide, cylindrical in shape and straw coloured. The stem is also smooth but very tough.

Distribution

QLD-NSW-VIC-SA-TAS

Spore Colour  

White      

Lookalikes

There are lookalikes to this mushroom with some the characteristics mentioned above including Panaeolus foenisecii (below) who's common name is the lawn mower mushroom and is NOT EDIBLE. 

Please use this reference as a tool for identification only and never eat any mushroom unless you do your own research and you are 100% sure. Remember if in doubt leave it out!