Today we are going to talk about a type of edible mushroom that can be easily mistaken for another of the same species, so you have to know its main aspect well. Its about Agaricus silvicola. This mushroom is in demand by those fans of collecting and, therefore, it is necessary to know the species well to be able to collect it correctly.
In this article we are going to tell you all the characteristics, habitat and possible confusions of the Agaricus silvicola.
Key features
Hat and foils
It is a type of mushroom that has a globose-looking hat when it has just hatched. When it develops it has a flared ovoid appearance and when it reaches maturity it has a more extended convex appearance. With the morphology of the hat we can more or less know the age of the mushroom. The cuticle of this hat is first white in color and contains radial fibrils. When it evolves and reaches the adult stage, this cuticle acquires a yellowish color that evolves to a sulfur yellow color.
In the areas of the fungus where you can brush or cut it, a dirty yellow color appears, which is quite characteristic of this species. Normally it is treated as one of the main indicative to be able to differentiate this mushroom from others of its same group. If we see the margin of the hat when cutting we can analyze what is curved and that with age it evolves to decurved. If we analyze it from the outside, we see that its margin is entire when it is young. It becomes somewhat more irregular, adopting a crenulate shape when it reaches adulthood.
It has blades of type free but tight between them. The blades have a whitish color with light pink tones that are more visible as the individual is more adult. With the passage of time we can see that the sheets darken until they acquire a more dark grayish-brown color, almost turning black. The edges of these blades are slightly paler in color.
Pie and meat
As for the foot, we see that it is of a slender type, easily detachable from the hat and with a cylindrical shape. In this foot we can see that it is quite thick and frequently curved towards the base. However, inside it is hollow so it does not have much culinary interest. One of the characteristics of this foot is that it is curved when it reaches the base part and it has a bulbous appearance with a spherical shape. They usually measure between approximately 6-10 centimeters in height and 1.5 centimeters in diameter.
Its color is white, although it becomes a more yellowish-pink color in the upper part close to the hat. It has a ring above the middle of the foot. The ring is quite simple but of a great size. We can often see that the ring is dismembered into strips along the foot.
Finally, its flesh is white although it is slightly pink in some areas. We can see that it is compact and somewhat consistent. It has a somewhat spongy texture when it reaches adulthood. Although it is considered an edible mushroom it has an aniseed smell that happens to remind of bitter almonds. However, it does taste quite pleasant.
Habitat of the Agaricus silvicola
This specimen usually appears gregarious. This means that they are between 2 and 3 specimens together but they do not become more individuals to form a complete group. It is a species that grows in autumn when the first precipitations of the annual hydrological cycle arrive. It depends a lot on the ambient humidity and the existing temperatures at that time.
We mainly see it developing in coniferous and deciduous forests that have abundant humus. Smoke develops much better in areas where lots of litter is continuously decomposing. This litter is born from the fallen leaves of deciduous trees. It is a fairly abundant species of mushroom so it can be easily confused with others of the same group.
El Silvicultural agaricus always be considered an edible species with a quality similar to that of other Agaricus. It is classified as a good edible mushroom for the kitchen. There are some people who do not advise its consumption of drift some toxic elements similar to those of the Agaricus xanthodermus. However, its effects do not usually appear in almost the majority of consumers, although in some cases it can cause slight digestive disorders
Main confusions of the Agaricus silvicola
As with a large number of mushrooms of the Agaricus group, it can be confused with the white amanitas since they share the same habitat. In this case, we can confuse the Silvicultural agaricus with the fly agaric, fly agaric and Amanita phalloides. These mushrooms are very toxic, becoming frequently fatal. The main characteristic that these mushrooms belonging to the group of amanitas have in common is that they have white blades and have volva.
Another of the most frequent confusions of the Agaricus silvicola It is the group of flavescents. This refers to mushrooms that turn yellow when rubbed and cut. Although many of them are considered good edibles and confusion does not become something dangerous to health, there are other specimens that are. We refer to Agaricus xanthodermus which is a toxic species. The main difference with this specimen is that it has a trapezoidal shape on the hat and a rather unpleasant smell reminiscent of phenol. This smell is accentuated when it is cooking. If you have been unlucky enough to mistake the Agaricus silvicola With this species, you still have a possibility of being able to differentiate it when cooking by this smell.
As a curiosity, the name of silvicola means that it is a species that avoids in two dense forests. It refers to those deciduous forests that generate a sensation of density when said leaves fall on the ground and increase the amount of humus and humidity.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Agaricus silvicola.