Fairy Inkcap (Coprinellus disseminatus)

🏷️ Description
🔎 Identification
👀 Look-Alikes
▶️ Video
📜 Synonyms

🏷️ Description

Meet the Fairy Inkcap (Coprinellus disseminatus), a tiny but mighty mushroom that loves to party in huge clusters across rotting stumps and fallen logs. Unlike its inky inkcap cousins, this delicate fungus keeps its gills intact—meaning no messy black goo and yes to a clean spore print!

🌟 Spotting the Fairy Inkcap:

Cap: Pale grayish-brown, often starting nearly pure white, with a striated texture and a soft yellow-brown center. 🍂
Gills: Grayish-black but never turn to ink (non-deliquescing).
Size: Dainty and fragile—handle with care, or it’ll crumble in your fingers! ✨

🌍 Where It Grows: This cosmopolitan fungus pops up in massive swarms across Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and even Australia. It thrives from early spring to winter, carpeting woodland stumps and shady hedgerows.

🥗 Edibility: Yes, it’s edible (and nonpoisonous), but its tiny, fragile nature makes it more of a forager’s curiosity than a culinary delight. It can be eaten raw or cooked but doesn’t preserve well.

🧬 Fun Facts:

Formerly known as Coprinus disseminatus until 2001.
Nicknamed the Fairy Inkcap for its magical, clustered appearances. 🧚‍♂️✨
The latin name disseminatus means "scattered in all directions"—a nod to its sprawling growth habit.

Common names: Non-Inky Coprinus, Fairy Bonnet, Little Helmets, Crumble Cap, Trooping Inkcaps, Fairy Inkcap.

🔎 Identification

👒 Cap:

Size: 0.20 to 0.79 inches (0.5 to 2 cm) wide
Shape: Starts oval or egg-shaped, later expanding to a bell or convex shape, sometimes with upturned margins
Color: Begins beige or pale yellow-brown with a brownish center, aging to gray or grayish-brown, darkest at the center
Texture: Smooth or minutely hairy when young, becoming mostly smooth with grooves/stripes running from the margin toward the center
Flesh: Thin, soft, and fragile

🌿 Gills:

Attachment: Adnate (broadly attached) or free from the stem
Color Change: Start white, then gray, and finally black as they mature
Key Feature: Unlike true inkcaps, the gills do not liquefy into ink
Spacing: Close to subdistant

📏 Stem:

Size: 0.59 to 1.57 inches (1.5 to 4 cm) tall, 1–2 mm thick
Color: White
Texture: Smooth to minutely hairy, often curved
Structure: Hollow and extremely fragile—handle with care!

🖤 Spore Print:

Color: Black or blackish-brown
Spores: 7–10 x 4–5.5 µm, elliptical with a distinct apical pore

👃 Odor & Taste: Not distinctive—best admired, not tasted!

🌳 Habitat & Ecology: This tiny, magical mushroom is saprobic, thriving in large clusters (often by the hundreds!) on decaying wood, especially near the bases of stumps. You’ll find it in spring, summer, and fall 🍂🌸☀️ across Europe, North America, Asia, South America, and Australia, where it plays a key role in breaking down dead wood.

👀 Look-Alikes

1️⃣ Coprinellus micaceus: Slightly larger, with a golden-brown cap often dusted with shiny mica-like particles. Gills deliquesce (turn into ink) as they mature, unlike C. disseminatus.

2️⃣ Coprinellus truncorum: Similar clustered growth on wood but has a more robust cap and stem. Gills may partially deliquesce, and the cap tends to be more bell-shaped.

3️⃣ Coprinopsis atramentaria: Much larger (up to 7 cm) and has thicker, fleshier caps. Gills turn inky black and liquefy when mature. Can be toxic if consumed with alcohol (contains coprine).

4️⃣ Coprinopsis lagopus: Initially covered in fine white hairs, giving it a “fuzzy” look. Grows singly or in small groups, not dense clusters. Gills deliquesce into black ink as it ages.

5️⃣Mycena inclinata: Grows in dense tufts on decaying wood, similar to C. disseminatus. Has a more conical cap, greasy appearance, and white spore print (not black).

6️⃣ Coprinopsis nivea: White, woolly cap when young, later smooths out. Gills liquefy with age, unlike C. disseminatus. Found on dung or rich soil rather than wood.

7️⃣ Parasola plicatilis: Thin, pleated cap resembling C. disseminatus but grows alone or in small groups on grassy areas, not wood. Cap lacks a central dark spot and is more translucent when wet.