Agaricus bisporus
(Button Mushroom)

Habitat

Lower elevation areas of Colorado when there is abundant moisture.

Description

This mushroom stains pinkish where injured or cut. It is very reminiscent of the store bought Crimini mushroom because really it is!! It's just growing in someone's backyard rather than a dark warehouse or sitting in the produce department of your favorite grocery store. The cap is slightly lighter in color here likely because of its environment growing among the weeds or maybe its just a different wild bisporus strain. This is a possible escapee from cultivation but honestly we really do not know. It has been reported to be here in Colorado but this was one of the first I have ever seen. Also similar bisporus types from New Mexico have been described from ~7000ft elevation. I was fortunate that Alan Rockefeller did a DNA sequencing workshop with our club as I was studying Colorado Agaricus extra in 2022 and we were able to get ITS sequence results after two attempts.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nuccore/OQ073701

A friend found these by accident while mowing and asked me if they were edible. We also found two other Agaricus that day after days of heavy rain that summer.

I've also seen a similar related mushroom from higher up in the mountains 7000 - 8000ft that is rare as well. It has very similar characteristics with more of a flocculose / scaled cap which I believe to be Agaricus subflocossus that is closely related to A. bisporus.

Smell

Mushroomy

Spore Print

Chocolate Brown

Edibility

Edible

Color

White to Tan

iNaturalist Observation

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/131955228

Last Updated

Feb 12 2023 05:13 PM

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