Deadly toxicBolbitiaceae

Pholiotina rugosa

Deadly conocybe

Tiny lawn mushroom with a movable ring that carries death-cap toxins.

Cap: Conical to convex, 1-2.5 cm, tawny to rusty brown, hygrophanic.
Gills: Adnate, pale then rusty cinnamon.
Stem: 15-40 mm, fragile, brownish, with a distinct movable ring.
Flesh: Thin, brownish. Never blues.
Spore print: Rusty brown
Habitat: Lawns, wood chips and mossy ground, often in the same lawns as liberty caps.
Distribution: Pacific Northwest of North America, Europe.
Season: Spring to autumn.
Bruising: None.
Odour: Not distinctive.

Key features

▪Rusty brown spore print
▪Movable ring on a very thin stem
▪No bluing
▪Same lawns as Psilocybe

Field tests

Spore print must be taken from every small brown lawn mushroom
Rust plus a ring means stop

Edibility

Deadly poisonous; contains amatoxins.

Warning

Regularly implicated in fatal poisonings of people gathering liberty caps.

Lookalikes

Psilocybe semilanceatadeadly

Liberty cap has a pointed nipple, no ring and a dark purple-brown print. Pholiotina has a movable ring and a rusty print.

Photo and feature-based identification is probabilistic. Never consume a wild mushroom on the basis of an app result — confirm with an experienced mycologist.