Plant Guide > Mushrooms > Genus Coprinus > Coprinus Atramentarius

Coprinus Atramentarius

Coprinus atramentarius

Inky Coprinus

Cap or Pileus - Cylindrical at first, broadening by degrees until it is cone-shaped. Colour greyish or greyish brown, with suggestions of lead colour. Smooth or with a few obscure scales on the disk. Often suffused with bloom. The margin sometimes notched or lobed. Deliquescing. 1-3 inches in diameter.

Stem or Stipe - Slender, smooth, whitish, hollow.

Ring or Annulus - A slight vestige of one may be seen to extend around the stem near the base as an irregular zigzag elevated line of threads.

Gills or Lamellae - Crowded. At first whitish and flocculose on the edges, then black, moist, dropping away in inky fluid.

Spores - Black, elliptical.

Flesh - White, quickly deliquescing.

Time - Autumn.

Habitat - Rich soil, waste places, woods.

The form growing in the woods is much more beautiful and is known as C. atramentarius, var. silvestris.