About this fungus
Wine-cap Stropharia is a fungus in the Strophariaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A large, sturdy mushroom of woodchip beds and other woody mulch. Fresh young caps are usually burgundy or wine red, while a thick, pale ring with a grooved or cogwheel-like upper surface is particularly characteristic. Older mushrooms can fade almost beyond recognition by colour alone.
What to check
Look for a stout stem with a thick persistent ring that is radially grooved or split on its upper surface. The crowded gills begin pale grey, then become purple-grey and finally dark purple-brown as the spores mature. A purple-brown to nearly purple-black spore print supports the identification. The stem often widens towards the base and may carry white mycelial cords, but there is no volva.
Variation
Cap colour is highly variable with age and weather. It may start deep wine red, reddish brown or purplish brown, then fade through tan and yellow-brown to cream or almost white. Caps are hemispherical to convex when young and become broadly convex or flat. The thick ring and changing grey-to-purple gills remain more useful than cap colour on faded specimens.
Lookalikes
Stropharia hornemannii is more associated with conifer wood and lacks the strongly grooved cogwheel ring. Cortinarius praestans and other large webcaps have a rusty-brown print and remnants of a cobweb-like cortina rather than a purple-brown print and substantial ring. Some Agaricus species have pink-to-chocolate gills and a chocolate-brown print. Use the substrate, ring construction, gill development and spore-print colour together.
Habitat and range
A wood-decaying saprotroph found on woodchips, bark mulch, straw, compost and buried woody material in gardens, parks, paths and other disturbed places. It may fruit singly but often appears in groups or large flushes. The species is cultivated and has been introduced widely, so it is encountered across Europe, North America and other temperate regions rather than being restricted to Britain. Fruiting season varies with local climate.
Food safety
Choice edible.
Use this profile to learn what to examine and compare, not as proof that a mushroom is safe to eat. Check the whole specimen and every important lookalike before reaching an identification.
Photographs
Jerzy Opioła / CC BY-SA 3.0