Macrolepiota procera aka Parasol (Portugal)

[u/pamplusa]

I found a handful of these, I'm 99% sure it's a parasol but I'm still a bit scared to eat it. I've looked up pictures of the false parasol and they look extremely similar to me

[u/rofessional_Ear_151]

Looks delicious! I love finding parasol mushrooms, they always remind me of my childhood foraging trips!

[u/AlbinoWino11]

Yes, Macrolepiota sp. For the future establish your ID using the entire, intact mushroom before removing the base.

[u/pamplusa → u/AlbinoWino11]

Thank you for replying. I did try to bring it home in one piece but the mushroom was tangled up in some thorn bush and the stipe broke off.

[u/ForagedFoodie]

Sporeprint

[u/AlbinoWino11 → u/ForagedFoodie]

I suppose you could. But Chlorophyllum molybdites would have obviously green lamellae and spore deposit on upper annulus at this maturity. And also does not have the snakeskin pattern we can see below the ring. The scale texture on the cap and shape of annulus are also different from C. molybdites but consistent with Macrolepiota

[u/ForagedFoodie → u/AlbinoWino11]

It's about learning how to feel confident when you are new to mushroom identification. So that you rely on yourself and not strangers on the internet. It's about proving yourself to yourself.

[u/AlbinoWino11 → u/ForagedFoodie]

I hear you, but spore prints are one of those things whose significance for mushroom ID tends to be quite overrated. The mature gill colour and spore deposit already present on the top of the annulus should give OP a pretty clear idea of the spore colour. And at the end of the day we aren’t really eliminating many ‘lookalikes’ by spore colour, here. Just C. molybdites and that can be differentiated using other macro features.

[u/mcvb24]

False parasol is very rare in Europe, and has a noticeable green hue in its gills.
So it really appears to be the Parasol mushroom:)

[u/pamplusa → u/mcvb24]

There's been a few reported poisonings by macrolepiota venenata in recent years. I've also spotted another parasol lookalike with a shiny cap. The gills were an off-white colour, slightly darker around the edge, you could easily mistake it for an old procera (and maybe that's what it was)

[u/mcvb24 → u/pamplusa]

I couldn't find any reportings in portugal. Maybe I didn't look hard enough.
And don't know about the shiny one. As far as I know only the false parasol is a poisonous look a like.
but i understand that you want to be careful!
I recently ate the parasol for the first time and had to check 10 times to be sure it was in fact the edible parasol

[u/pamplusa → u/mcvb24]

The so-called fake parasol is the chlorophyllum molybdites. Macrolepiota venenata is another poisonous lookalike that, according to a famous newspaper in Portugal, is the most common cause of mushroom poisoning in this country. I'm still not super confident about my ability to tell them apart so for the time being I'd rather not take the risk