Chlorophyllum

Chlorophyllum; the often disappointing thing you find when you're actually looking for delicious Macrolepiota. Push that disappointment aside and appreciate these statuesque parasols for the impressive mushrooms they are. Generally, the easiest way to tell you have Chlorophyllum and not Macrolepiota is to look at the stem texture; Chlorophyllum will have a smooth stem, whereas Macrolepiota has a layer of tissue on the stipe that breaks up into a chevron/snakeskin looking pattern.

Chlorophyllum molybdites - The green-spored parasol - AKA 'The Vomiter'. If the name is any clue, this is not one you want to eat on accident. It may not kill you, but you may wish you were dead. Unfortunately, it is a great look alike for C. rhacodes, but the spore print will gives you the difference - the spores are green, and will quickly show up on the gills as a sickly, brownish-green tinge. It a very common mushroom in our area, and can often be seen forming fairy rings in meticulously maintained lawns.

Chlorophyllum molybdites photo © Stephen Russell

Chlorophyllum olivieri - This relatively common parasol seems to prefer the woodlands. They're brown and shaggy; the common name is Olive Shaggy Parasol, which is definitely an on the nose name. They're most likely to be mistaken for Macrolepiota macilenta in our area, but look at the stipe - these will be lacking the snakeskin/chevron patterning of Macrolepiota

Chlorophyllum olivieri photo © Jessica Williams

Chlorophyllum rhacodes - C. rhacodes, AKA the shaggy parasol, is a surprisingly cosmopolitan mushroom. While not as common as its close look-alike, C. molybdites, it still seems to be quite widespread and can be found across the continent. The key differences between it and C. molybdites are the white spore print and the pink color the flesh of the cap and stem will blush when cut or damaged.

Chlorophyllum rhacodes photo © Tilegodz

Macrolepiota

There are various species of Macrolepiota in the Americas, none of which are Macrolepiota procera, despite looking very similar. Field guides are likely to continue calling our species M. procera for the foreseeable future, but in the meantime, we at least have current publications to reference! Our two eastern/midwestern species mentioned here are recently described and the open-source paper is filed under doi.org/10.3114/fuse.2024.14.09 and can be found here. There is an additional, rare species in the Pacific Northwest that remains undescribed, another that has been found in Arizona, along with several central and south American species

Macrolepiota macilenta - Technically, we don't have any sequences of this species yet from Ohio, but given the range of this species, it is most certainly present here. In brief, this is an attractive parasol that tends towards brown tones, but can occasionally be found with a cream-colored cap. Other important identification characteristics of Macrolepiota in general include a moveable, double-sided ring on the stipe, the abovementioned snakeskin pattern on the stipe, a white spore print, and a cap that breaks up into a scaley texture interspersed with fine fibrils.

Macrolepiota pallida - This is the more boreal species of our eastern Macrolepiota species, and is overall quite similar to M. macilenta. It does display much paler colors overall, with a primarily white cap and stem; the scales tend more towards buff or pale orange, versus brown.