Species details
Livid entoloma
Entoloma sinuatum
Poisonous
Photo: Matej Frančeškin · CC BY 4.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A large pale entoloma whose yellowish gills become pink from the pink spore deposit.
Identification features
The cap is smooth, greyish to cream, often with a mealy smell. The gills are characteristically notched at the stem.
Identification checklist
A large fleshy mushroom with a whitish to grey-ochre cap, gills initially yellowish then pink and notched at the stem, and a pink spore print. It often smells mealy and grows in deciduous woodland on base-rich soils.
Detailed features
- Cap
- 6–15 cm, fleshy, ash-grey to grey-brown, initially hemispherical, later expanded, often broadly umbonate.
- Hymenophore
- Gills are initially whitish to yellowish, later becoming pink from the spores; they are characteristically sinuate at the stem.
- Stem
- 6–12 cm, stout, white to slightly yellowish, often thickened at the base, without a ring.
- Flesh
- White and firm.
- Smell
- Often mealy, like fresh flour.
- Spore print
- Dull pink.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 6–15 cm
- Stem height
- 6–12 cm
- Stem diameter
- 1–2,5 cm
Habitat
In warm deciduous woodland and parks on calcareous soil.
Fruiting period
June, July, August, September, October
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Saprotrophic
- Host trees
- Oak (Quercus), Beech (Fagus)
- Substrate
- Soil
- Soil
- Clayey
Distribution
- Notes
- A European species of deciduous woodland and parks, usually on richer soils.
How to separate similar species
St George’s mushroom fruits in spring and has white gills and a white spore print. The miller is smaller with decurrent gills. A pink spore print is an important warning sign.
Similar species
Interesting facts
Did you know? The pink colour of mature gills comes from the pink spore deposit and is an important feature of the genus Entoloma.