About this fungus
Piggyback Rosegill is a fungus in the Pluteaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A pale silky mushroom apparently riding on a collapsing cluster of clouded funnels, with pinking free gills and a basal sack.
What to check
Expose the whole base and verify that it arises from another mushroom fruit body. Check for free gills changing white to pink, a pink-brown spore deposit, a volva and no ring.
Variation
Young caps are more oval and white; mature caps flatten, become greyer and show silky radial fibres as the gills turn pink.
Lookalikes
Other rosegills may grow from soil or wood rather than another mushroom. Pale Amanita species have white spores and can be deadly, so a basal cup is never enough by itself.
Habitat and range
A rare but widely reported parasite of clouded funnel fruit bodies across Eurasia, North Africa, North America and New Zealand.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Photo: Susann Pettersen · CC BY 4.0Species to compare
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