Unidentified fungus

[Words]

I saw this on Saturday in the garden. On Sunday it had vanished. Am I on the right lines in thinking it some sort of ink cap? Help appreciated. Thanks.

[arvensis]

Hi Words,
Definitely a Coprinus (Ink Cap). What was it growing on and can you remember the approximate height and width of the cap?

Mark

[Stewy]

Are the White spots on the cap another form of fungus?

[NickCantle]

No, i think the spots on top are part of the fungus...To me it looks like Coprinus micaceus, commonly named the Glistening Inkcap...

Nick

[agrumpycow]

I second that. It loses the grains (spots) as is ages.

[Words]

Thanks for the feedback. We do get plenty of glistening ink caps so that makes sense, but I'd not seen the white spotting before. I'm not great at size estiamtes, but the cap of the larger was probably about 3cm high. It's growing (or was) on the edge of a border so a mixture of gravel and woodchip, on soil. Those are fallen beech leaves to the left.

[CloudedYellow]

The white spots are the remnants of something called the 'universal veil' which is a kind of membrane which surrounds 'baby' mushrooms when they begin to develop and is thought to offer some protection to the 'baby' mushroom. As it grows, the mushroom bursts out of the membrane and remnants of the membrane can remain in various ways (varies between different groups of fungi). In this case the remnants are left on the cap and forms flakes which tend to fall off as the cap expands.

[Words]

Thanks for the explanation of the spots.