Shaggy Ink Cap Identification – Coprinus comatus
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Known by fun names like the lawyer’s wig and shaggy mane, the Shaggy Ink Cap is commonly found on lawns, waste areas, and alongside gravel roads. This mushroom has a preference for green urban spaces, making it a regular sight even in towns and cities.
Shaggy Ink Cap: Key Parts in Photos
How to identify Shaggy Ink Cap
The Shaggy Ink Cap stands out with its cylindrical cap that seems to envelope most of its stipe when young. As it matures, this cap, measuring between 1.5-3 inches in width, opens up and showcases shaggy scales, which are paler towards the top. These scales have given the mushroom its name.
Beneath the cap, you’ll find gills. In their youth, these gills are white. However, with time, they take on a pink hue before turning black. And here’s where the Shaggy Ink Cap’s other name, “ink cap”, comes from: these gills will dissolve or “deliquesce” into a black liquid filled with spores. This process is so rapid that within hours of being picked or after releasing its spores, the mushroom will turn into a black ink.
The stipe of this mushroom is equally interesting. While fairly thick and white, it can stand tall at a height up to 16 inches. Close to its base, you’ll find a loose ring. If you’re curious about its microscopic characteristics, the spore print of this mushroom is a black-brown, and under a microscope, the spores appear ellipsoidal.
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