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Badham’s wortwort (Leucocoprinus badhami) is an agaric fungus from the Champignon family and the genus Leucocoprinus. Its other names:
- leucobolbitius, named by Danish mycologist and politician Jacob Lange in 1952;
- mastocephalus is the name given to the fungus by the Italian Giovanni Battarra in 1891.
It was first described and classified in 1888 by Narciss Patouillard, a French pharmacist and mycologist.
Where does Bedham’s whitedung grow?
Bedham’s white dagger is a rare species with an unusually wide range of distribution. In Our Country, it can be found in the foothills of the Caucasus, in Udmurtia and Tatarstan, in the southern regions and Primorye.
Feels great in greenhouses and greenhouses, on heaps of rotten garbage and humus. It occurs in deciduous and coniferous forests with an abundance of windbreaks and forest litter, in gardens, parks and home gardens. He likes wet places, floodplains, damp ravines and gullies. Settles in small, closely spaced groups, rarely – one by one. The fruiting period is from August to November, until persistently cold weather.
This type of fruit bodies loves alkaline soils rich in humus and deposits of plant remains, warmed up due to decay processes.
What does the Bedham white dung look like?
Only the fruiting bodies that have appeared have ovoid, spherical caps. Growing up, they straighten out first into a rounded dome, then transform into an umbrella with a noticeable spherical bulge at the top. Adult specimens have a prostrate shape. The edge is thin, often cracks and breaks off. The diameter of the cap is from 2,5-3,5 to 5-7 cm.
The surface is dry, velvety, matte. White, with small tightly pressed brownish-rusty scales, denser at the top. Color may change to creamy grey.
The hymenophore plates in young specimens are covered with a dense cape, which remains on the edges of the cap and stem with age. They are frequent, not incremented, even in length, distinctly separated from each other. White, creamy pinkish, with age become a rich red color. The spore powder is white, yellowish or creamy, and the pores themselves are colorless.
The stem is straight or slightly curved, thin and long, with a distinct ring closer to the cap. The surface is dry, covered with white down to the ring. Above – unpubescent. The length varies from 3-5 to 8-11 cm, with a diameter of 0,4 to 0,9-1,7 cm. The color is white, brownish-beige above the ring.
The pulp is thin, fragile, watery, pure white. It has a fungal or unpleasant putrefactive odor.
Closer to the root, the stem of the fungus expands noticeably
Can you eat Bedham’s white dung beetle
The fruit body belongs to inedible species. There is no exact data on its toxicity, according to some sources it contains substances dangerous to humans.
Conclusion
Bedham’s white-tailed fungus is a rare, widespread agaric species. Belongs to the Champignon family and the Belonavoznikov family. Inedible, possibly toxic. It is a saprotroph, settles on rich fertile substrates, in wet lowlands. On the territory of the Federation, it is found in the Rostov region, in the Stavropol Territory, in Udmurtia and Tatarstan. It can also be found in North America and Europe. The mushroom picker bears fruit from August to October. It grows in small groups in deciduous and coniferous forests, in parks and vegetable gardens, on overripe manure.
