Description:
Tall dark grey-brown agaric with conspicuous white scaly patches.
Cap:
Ovoid or cylindrical becoming convex then broadly campanulate, margin
finally reflexed and splitting radially. Dark greyish-brown or sepia,
covered with white velar patches. Flesh thin with unpleasant smell.
Gills:
free or adnexed, crowded, at first white then turning pink and then
blackening in the process of autodigestion, finally liquefying.
Stem: Tall, hollow, white, smooth.
Spores; black, ellipsoid, with a germ-pore.
*inedible*
Distribution:
Frequent in southern and south-eastern England, and may be vastly
abundant in places, but becoming rare elsewhere.
Habitat:
Uncommon, September to December, growing singly or scattered on soil amongst the leaf litter, most often associated with Fagus in beechwoods on calcareous soil but also known with other deciduous trees. Very rarely associated with conifers such asLarix spp.
Additional Notes:
Unlikely to be mistaken for anything else, except C. episcopalis which often resembles small basidiomes of C. picaceus. but is much rarer and very localised.
Based on recent molecular studies published by Hopple & Vilgalys in 1999 (Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution 13: 1-19), Redhead, Vilgalys, Moncalvo, Johnson & Hopple (2001. Taxon 50: 203-241) recently split the large and well-known agaric genus Coprinus Pers. taxonomically into four genera and two families. Coprinus comatus , the universally recognized lectotype for Coprinus , and two other species are now recognized as belonging with Lepiota and Agaricus
in the Agaricaceae. This transfer renders the younger name
(Coprinaceae) synonymous and superfluous. Over 95% of the remaining
former Coprinus species are now treated with Psathyrella in a separate family, for which the name Psathyrellaceae has been proposed. Except for C. comatus and close allies, all former Coprinus species have now been distributed into Coprinopsis, Coprinellus, and Parasola within the Psathyrellaceae.
Lorelei Norvell (2001)
