About this fungus
Ivory Funnel is a fungus in the Tricholomataceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A small white or ivory mushroom that often grows in troops, arcs or rings through short grass. The cap begins convex, then becomes flat or shallowly funnel shaped with a wavy edge. A floury white coating can break into faint concentric rings and reveal cream, buff or flesh-coloured patches beneath.
What to check
Look for crowded white to cream gills that attach broadly to the stem or run a short distance down it. Older gills may develop a grey-pink tone. The slender white stem has no ring, the spore print is white, and the cap is smooth, floury or silky rather than robust and fleshy. No single feature safely separates every small white funnel.
Variation
Moist caps can appear translucent buff or flesh-brown beneath a frosted white surface. As they dry, the white bloom becomes more obvious, while older caps may crack or show ring-like bands. Shape ranges from convex with a low centre to a shallow funnel. The closely related names Clitocybe rivulosa and Clitocybe dealbata have been applied inconsistently.
Lookalikes
Fairy Ring Champignon can grow in the same ring, but it has more widely spaced gills and a tough flexible stem, while Ivory Funnel is softer with crowded gills. St George's Mushroom is thicker and fleshier, has a strong mealy smell and fruits mainly in spring. Other small white Clitocybe species can be extremely similar, so every specimen in a mixed grassland collection needs separate attention.
Habitat and range
Most often found in lawns, pasture, roadside verges, parkland and coastal dunes, sometimes forming arcs or fairy rings. Records also occur in open woodland and leaf litter, partly reflecting the unresolved boundary of the rivulosa and dealbata group. It is widespread across Europe and reported from North America.
Food safety
Deadly poisonous because it can contain a high concentration of muscarine. Symptoms often begin within 15 minutes to two hours and can include heavy sweating, tears and saliva, vomiting, diarrhoea, blurred vision, a slow or irregular pulse, low blood pressure and difficulty breathing. Most treated patients recover, but severe poisoning can cause respiratory or cardiac failure and death, particularly in vulnerable people.
Photographs
Jerzy Opioła / CC BY-SA 3.0
Jerzy Opioła / CC BY-SA 3.0