Chlorophyllum agaricoides

Chlorophyllum agaricoides
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Agaricaceae
Genus:	Chlorophyllum
Species:	C. agaricoides
Binomial name
Chlorophyllum agaricoides (Czern.) Vellinga
Synonyms
Endoptychum agaricoides Czernajew, V.M. (1845)

Chlorophyllum agaricoides Mycological characteristics
	Glebal hymenium
	Cap is conical
	Hymenium attachment is not applicable
	Stipe is bare
	Spore print is olive-brown
	Ecology is saprotrophic
	Edibility is edible

Chlorophyllum agaricoides, commonly known as the gasteroid lepiota, ^[1] puffball parasol, false puffball, or puffball agaric, is a species of edible fungus belonging to the family Agaricaceae. ^{[2] [3]} Young specimens have been traditionally eaten by the Turkish for many years. ^[4]

It has a cosmopolitan distribution, ^[2] with documented records from China, ^[5] Mongolia, ^[5] Bulgaria, ^[6] and Turkey. ^[4] It is also a protected species in Hungary, ^[7] and is believed to be in decline across Europe due to habitat destruction.

Description

It is a secotioid mushroom, meaning its hymenium takes the form of a gleba made of underdeveloped gills, completely enclosed by the cap, which never fully opens. This protects the mushroom from desiccation. ^[3] The cap is egg-shaped to spherical, often tapering upward to form a blunt, conical point 1–7cm wide and 2–10cm tall. It is white, and becomes dark brown with age. It is mostly smooth, with some small fibrils, though it may also develop fibrous scales. The gills are contorted, irregularly chambered, and underdeveloped, making up an enclosed gleba which is white, aging to a mustardy yellow-brown. The stipe is 0–3cm long and 0.5–2cm thick. There is no ring. Its odor becomes cabbagey with age. It grows singularly or in clusters mostly on cultivated land or grass, though occasionally on the forest floor. The spores are 6.5–9.5 x 5–7 μm, globose to elliptic, green to yellow-brown, turning reddish brown in Melzer's reagent. The germ pore is indistinct. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia are absent. Agaricus inapertus is a look-alike, although unlike C. agaricoides, it prefers forests and develops a black gleba with age. ^[3]

References

1. Arora, David (1986). Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi (Second ed.). Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. ISBN   978-0-89815-169-5.
2. "Chlorophyllum agaricoides (Czern.) Vellinga". www.gbif.org. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
3. "What's become of Macrolepiota rhacodes?". www.svims.club. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
4. Sezgin, S.; Dalar, A.; Uzun, Y. (2019). "Determination of antioxidant activities and chemical composition of sequential fractions of five edible mushrooms from Turkey". Journal of Food Science and Technology. 57 (5): 1866–1876. doi:10.1007/s13197-019-04221-7. PMC   7171027 . PMID   32327797.
5. Ge, Z. W.; Yang, Zhu L. (1 June 2006). "The Genus Chlorophyllum (Basidiomycetes) in China" (PDF). Mycotaxon. 96 (1): 181–191. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
6. Lacheva, Maria (1 January 2012). "New Data of Some Rare Larger Fungi of Agaricaceae (Agaricales) in Bulgaria" (PDF). Plant Studies. 2 (6): 24–29. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
7. "Lemezes pöfeteg - Chlorophyllum agaricoides". www.miskolcigombasz.hu. Retrieved 1 August 2022.