Introduction to Mushrooms Revised April 2000
by By Michael W. Beug Email: beugm@evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA
Slide 3.
The discovery of this delightful-smelling Agaricus augustus, The Prince, can get someone hooked on wild mushrooms. The Prince is a distinctive meaty, choice edible mushroom with a delightful almond odor. Agaricus augustus is in the same genus as the much more bland domesticated store-bought mushroom. This genus is a challenging one for beginners and even fairly experienced pickers make mistakes since there are many close look-alikes. I have even seen the previous species, Amanita pantherina, identified as The Prince by an experienced biologist who was not very experienced with fungi. The Amanita species yield a white spore print when the stipe is removed and the cap is placed gills-down on a piece of white paper while Agaricus species yield a chocolate-brown spore print. Spore color is very important in telling one genus of gilled mushrooms from another.
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