Parasol mushrooms — an ID guide

So you find a mushroom the size of your head growing in a field. It has a brown leathery center and a long stem. What is it? And can you eat it???

Chances are, you've found a parasol mushroom — Macrolepiota procera, one of my absolute fave mushies for its nutty flavor. But as we know, we've got to be 100% sure to even think about consuming a wild mushroom. So here are a few key identifying characteristics that must be present for a positive ID!

General shape

Parasol mushrooms have big caps — often upwards of 20cm in diameter when fully spread — with a long stem and prominent ring. The shape really does look like an umbrella or parasol!

They are most often found in grassy meadows — like the ones I found here just next to the sea in Wales — but they can also be found at the edge of the forest or in forest clearings. I often find them in the forest itself around Berlin, where the trees aren't so dense.

The cap

White- or cream-colored cap, with a chocolate-brown center with a leathery texture. At maturity, the cap is large and flat — often the size of a dinner plate — with has a raised umbo (or "nipple") in the center, with brown flakes or scales scattered around the cap.

A young parasol with a closed, egg-shaped cap. You can see how the brown leathery skin cracks to form the scales and umbo.

Parasols grow to their full height before spreading out, so young ones will be tall with a tight, closed, egg-shaped cap, attached to the snakeskin-patterned stem. The leathery brown coloring will be more prominent on the cap. As they mature, this cracks and separates into scales everywhere except the center, showing the white flesh in between.

The gills

These are the same creamy-white color as the cap, crowded together, and free — i.e. not attaching to the stem in the center; instead you'll see a little gap between the stem and the gills. The gills are flexible, thin, and papery.

Give the underside of the mushroom a sniff and you'll get a heavenly, nutty smell, like warm milk.

The ring

When the cap separates from the stem, it leaves behind a fleshy or even cottony, double-sided ring. The ring is moveable: you can actually slide it up and down the stem.

The stem

Long, thin, and fibrous, and covered in a brown, scaly pattern reminiscent of snakeskin. This pattern can be more or less pronounced, and sometimes gets nibbled off by slugs, so

Other important features

The flesh should not turn orange/red when cut! (Occasionally it does turn a light pink — but nothing darker.) Some very similar-looking mushrooms in the Chlorophyllum genus, including both edible and toxic species, have many of the same features, but turn a bright saffron orange when cut, especially in the stem.

Parasols can have a more-or-less pronounced bulbous base to the stem. However, they never have an egg-like sac at the base.

Possible confusions

At worst, you could confuse a parasol with a deadly Amanita species — but you'd have to really not be paying attention for this. Amanitas also have white gills and a ring, but that's where the similarities stop. They are smaller, have a totally different textures and coloring, and also lack the moveable ring of the Parasol (amanita rings are more like skirts).

More likely confusions are members of the Chlorophyllum family, as mentioned above. These have moveable rings, but lack the snakeskin pattern on the stem. They are also usually smaller and shorter than Parasols. You'll find these species in or on the edge of the forest, not in the middle of a meadow. This family includes both edible and toxic members, though the toxic ones are not deadly — they'll just cause some very unpleasant experiences with the toilet.

These are shaggy parasols (Clorophyllum olivieri). At this stage, they can be very similar to the Parasol at first glance, but note the unpatterned brown stem and short stature. If we were to cut these guys, the cut area would quickly turn a bright orange-red.

Other possible confusions include the much, much smaller Lepiota species. These can be potentially deadly, but are easy to tell apart from the edible Parasol: they are tiny, and lack the moveable ring.

This tiny Lepiota was about the size of my little finger. The ring is blurry here, but you can tell it's attached to the stem, unlike with the Parasol.

So: pay special attention to the size, moveable ring & snakeskin pattern on the stem. If all of these features are present, you have an edible parasol in your hands!

Parasols are delicious fried in butter, stuffed, turned into schnitzel, in a cream sauce, or so many other ways! The stem is too fibrous to eat, but can be dried and powdered, and used as a wonderful umami flavoring for soups and sauces.

As with 99.9% of all edible wild mushrooms, parasols must be cooked before eating!!

Hope this guide is useful for you. Happy munching 💗

Where you find one parasol, you're likely to find a few - or a whole feast!