Umbrella girl (Leucoagaricus nympharum)

Systematics:
  • Division: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
  • Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
  • Family: Agaricaceae (Champignon)
  • Genus: Leucoagaricus (White champignon)
  • Type: Leucoagaricus nymfarum

Umbrella girl (Leucoagaricus nympharum) photo and description

Umbrella girlish (lat. Leucoagaricus nympharum) is a mushroom of the champignon family. In the old systems of taxonomy, it belonged to the genus Macrolepiota (Macrolepiota) and was considered a species of blushing umbrella mushroom. It is edible, but because it is rare and subject to protection, it is not recommended to collect it.

Description of the girl’s umbrella

The cap of the girl’s umbrella is 4-7 (10) cm in diameter, thinly fleshy, at first ovoid, then convex, bell-shaped or umbrella-shaped, with a low tubercle, the edge is thin, fringed. The surface is very light, sometimes almost white;

The flesh of the cap is white, at the base of the stem on the cut it slightly reddens, with the smell of radish and without a pronounced taste.

Leg 7-12 (16) cm high, 0,6-1 cm thick, cylindrical, tapering upwards, with a tuberous thickening at the base, sometimes curved, hollow, fibrous. The surface of the stem is smooth, whitish, becoming dirty brownish over time.

The plates are frequent, free, with a thin cartilaginous collarium, with a smooth edge, easily separated from the cap. Their color is initially white with a pinkish tinge, becomes darker with age, and the plates turn brown when touched.

The remains of the spathe: the ring at the top of the leg is whitish, wide, mobile, with a wavy edge, covered with a flaky coating; Volvo is missing.

The spore powder is white or slightly creamy.

Ecology and distribution

Umbrella girl grows on the soil in pine and mixed forests, in meadows, appears singly or in groups, is rare. Distributed in Eurasia, known in the British Isles, France, Germany, Finland, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Ukraine, in the north of the Balkan Peninsula. In Our Country, it is found in Primorsky Krai, on Sakhalin, very rarely in the European part.

Season: August — October.

Similar species

Reddening umbrella (Chlorophyllum rhacodes) with a darker-colored cap and intensely colored flesh on the cut, larger.

View in the Red Book

In many regions of distribution, the girlish umbrella is rare and requires protection. It was listed in the Red Book of the USSR, now – in the Red Book of Our Country, Belarus, in many regional Red Books.

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