Clitocybe nebularis
Der Führer in die Pilzkunde, p. 124. 1871.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Lepista nebularis (Fries) Harmaja
Cap 5-25 cm broad; convex with an incurved margin, becoming plane to depressed; color greyish to light brownish grey; surface dry to moist, radially fibrillose; flesh thick, white; odor unpleasant, slightly farinaceous to rancid or skunky.
Gills close, adnate to decurrent, white to cream colored.
Stipe 5-15 cm long, 1.5-4 cm thick at apex, base enlarged to bulbous, usually with abundant whitish tomentum; color white, sometimes with light grey brown fibrils.
Spores 5.5-8.5 x 3.5-4.5 µm, smooth, ellipsoid, nonamyloid; spore wall cyanophilous. Spore print pale yellow.
Solitary to scattered to gregarious under both conifers and hardwoods. Seldom fruits before December.
Often listed as edible, but the foul odor would deter most persons from trying it.
This large, cold weather mushroom is easily identified by its obnoxious aroma, often compared to the odor of a rodent cage. For those lacking the ability to smell, Clitocybe nebularis could be confused with Leucopaxillus albissimus, but it is greyer, more readily putrescent, and has yellowish rather than white spores.
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms Demystified. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 959 p.
Ammirati, J.F., Traquair, J.A. & Horgen, P.A. (1985). Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northern United States and Canada. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN. 396 p.
Bigelow, H.E. (1982). North American Species of Clitocybe. Part I. J. Cramer: Vaduz, Liechtenstein. 280 p. (PDF)
Breitenbach, J. & Kränzlin, F. (1991). Fungi of Switzerland. Volume 3: Boletes and Agarics (1st Part). Strobilomycetaceae, Boletaceae, Paxillaceae, Gomphidiaceae, Hygrophoraceae, Tricholomataceae, Polyporaceae (lamellate). Verlag Mykologia: Luzern, Switzerland. 361 p.
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Gregory, D. (2007). The genus Clitocybe of California. Masters Thesis. San Francisco State University.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
