What is the name of this type of mushroom?

Question

So I found a mushroom outside this morning, here is the description:

-thin, white stalk 3 in. long or less

-cap is (or would be) conical

-cap is very thin and looks like it has darker lines scored in it running down its length

-color: grey, with a white spot on the top of the cap

It looked like it sprung up overnight, so I'm just wondering. Also, the cap was maybe a centimeter long and a centemiter wide.

Answer 1

Call around, take it to someone who can look at it.

If you are talking about eating such a thing just remember there are "look alike" shrooms that might kill you!

Rule of thumb is never eat a shroom you don't know what it is. Also never go onto someone else's patch those people get rather mean when They are making there living from mushrooms. Mushrooms is a big industry here in the mountains (Chanterelles I think are what we have growing there).

Take it to someone.....

Answer 2

What you have described could be any one of thousands of small species that are generally non-descript and boring.

Collectively we know them as LBM's (Little Brown Mushrooms). and don't bother with them unless looking for a particular species due some other property that warrants further investigation.

Tomorrow, take a cap off one of the stalks and place it over a piece of newspaper where there is both black and white background. Place a cup over top to keep any drafts away from it. After a few hours there should be a mirror image of the gills underneath the cap. These are the spores. This "spore-print" will be a particular color, ranging from white to black, brown, rusty, cinnamon, yellow, pinkish, etc. This color will help you to narrow down the identification possibilities immensely.

Whatever the case, if it is any color other than purplish-black, it is definitely not a member of the Psilocybe genus. Apart from a couple of species of LBM (Marasmius oreades or "Fairy-Ring Mushroom" comes to mind) there are none worth eating for the table. Several can kill, so be sure of your ID before indulging.

Answer 3

Mushrooms are really hard to identify to species. Below are a few keys that may help, but again, most mushrooms are very difficult to identify.  However, you may be able to figure out the general group fairly easy.

A lot times, for proper identification, you need to collect a spore print and look at the color of the spores.  To do this, just place one cap on a white piece of paper, cover it with a glass jar and let it sit over night.  If the mushroom is fresh, the spores will be released onto the paper and make a print.  A faster way is to look at the color of the gills.  This is a little faster but less accurate.  Another important thing to note is the substrate the mushroom was growing on (i.e. bare soil, dead log, fecal matter, etc.).