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The parasol is one of the tallest gilled mushrooms, with a shaggy, brown-scaled cap that opens flat like an umbrella and a long stalk with a loose ring you can slide up and down. The true parasol is a Eurasian species, and North American mushrooms going by this name may actually be several different ones. It is a well-known edible when cooked, but it is easily confused with the poisonous green-spored lepiota.

Appearance

Appearance
The cap starts egg-shaped and flattens out with a dark central knob, covered in brown scales on a buff background. Gills are white, crowded, and free from the stalk. The stalk is slender with brownish scales or chevron bands and a bulb at the base.
Growth form
Cap usually 3–8 in (8–20 cm) across, sometimes up to about 12 in (30 cm); stalk 6–16 in (15–40 cm) tall and about ¼–¾ in thick.

Look-alikes

Green-spored lepiota (false parasol)Chlorophyllum molybdites

Its gills turn grayish green with age and it leaves a greenish . It also lacks the snakeskin-like bands on the stalk.

Why they get mixed upSimilar size, scaly cap, and ring. It is poisonous and causes severe stomach upset.

Reddening lepiotaLeucoagaricus americanus

It bruises red and turns reddish as it ages.

Why they get mixed upAlso a tall, scaly-capped mushroom with a ring.

Where it lives

Typical habitats
  • Pastures
  • Open woods
  • Trail edges
Range
The true parasol grows across Europe and temperate Asia, including Korea and Japan. In North America the name is used for similar mushrooms that are much more common east of the Rocky Mountains, and these may be different species. Mushrooms called parasol turn up statewide in Missouri.
Preferred conditions
Mushrooms called parasol in Missouri grow on the ground, alone or scattered, along trails, in open woods, old pastures, and other disturbed ground. They sometimes form arcs or .
Seasons

In Missouri

Fruit Jun–Oct

Life cycle

Reproduction
Releases white spores from its gills. Mushrooms called parasol in Missouri fruit from June through October.

Cautions

Cautions
Rated a choice edible, but it must be cooked and identified with certainty. Always check for a white spore print, since the poisonous green-spored lepiota leaves a greenish one.

Name and classification

About the name
Macrolepiota procera was described from Europe. Studies suggest that North American mushrooms called by this name belong to several species, many still unnamed.

Conservation

IUCN Red List
NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed

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Parasol (Macrolepiota procera) — identification, habitat & look-alikes | Moeyo