Coprinopsis picacea

Coprinopsis picacea
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Psathyrellaceae
Genus:	Coprinopsis
Species:	C. picacea
Binomial name
Coprinopsis picacea (Bull.) Redhead, Vilgalys & Moncalvo
Synonyms
Agaricus picaceus Bull. Coprinus picaceus (Bull.) Gray

Coprinopsis picacea Mycological characteristics
	Gills on hymenium
	Cap is conical
	Hymenium is free
	Stipe is bare
	Spore print is black
	Ecology is saprotrophic
	Edibility is poisonous

Coprinopsis picacea, commonly known as the magpie mushroom, magpie fungus, or magpie inkcap fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae. It was first described in 1785 by French mycologist Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard in 1785 as Agaricus picaceus.^[1]

The species can sometimes be confused with the edible Coprinus comatus.

Distribution

The magpie inkcap is common in Europe and Australia. In Europe, the area extends from Great Britain and France in the west to Poland, Hungary and Romania in the east and south to Spain and the Balearic Islands, Italy and Greece and to Germany and Denmark in the north.

Description

The cap is initially egg-shaped, reaching a width of 7 cm. Later it opens up and takes on a bell shape that is up to 8 cm wide. The cap is serrated and colored white on very young mushrooms. It breaks open with increasing age, so that the beige to dark brown background emerges. Remnants of the white, grayish to cream-colored velum remain on the cap as flakes, giving the impression of woodpecker or magpie plumage. With age, the brim of the cap rolls up and dissolves. The lamellae are very close and are initially greyish-white, then pink to gray in color. Eventually they melt, dripping and black, giving it the name inkcap. The stalk is whitish and 12–20 (–30) cm long and 6–15 mm thick. It is hollow and not very stable, slightly tapered towards the top and covered with scales or fine fibers that form a snake towards the base. The flesh is whitish with a fibrous, watery consistency and sometimes has an unpleasant smell of moth powder. The taste is also unpleasant.

The species is inedible and causes digestive upset.^[2]

Microscopic features

The elliptical, dark brown spores are 14–18.5 × 10–13 μm in size. The Cheilo- and pleuro Zystiden are bubbles or bag-to tubular. They are up to 150 μm long and 50 μm wide.

See also

• List of Coprinopsis species

References

1. Bulliard JBF. (1785). Herbier de la France [Guide to the Herbs of France] (in French). Vol. 5. pp. 192–240.
2. Miller Jr., Orson K.; Miller, Hope H. (2006). North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi. Guilford, CN: FalconGuide. p. 231. ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-1.