Agrocybe praecox
Annales des Sciences Naturelles, Series 7, 9: 358. 1889.
Common Name: none
Cap 3-6 cm broad, convex, broadly so to nearly plane in age, occasionally with a low umbo at the disc; surface smooth, but commonly cracked in dry weather; color tan-brown to "biscuit brown," the margin lighter, fading overall in age; context white to cream, soft; odor and taste mild to farinaceous.
Gills adnexed to adnate, close, moderately broad, pallid, becoming pale brown.
Stipe 4-9 cm long, 4-7 mm thick, equal, round, straight to irregularly bent, the base often slightly bulbous; surface colored like the cap, faintly grooved to striate at the apex, less conspicuously so below, darkening in age or from handling, thickened mycelium (rhizomorphs) frequently adhering to the base; partial veil membranous, cream-buff, leaving fragments on the young cap or forming a thin, fragile ring, the latter often darkening from spores.
Spores 8-12 x 5.5-7 µm, smooth, elliptical, with a germ pore; spore print brown.
Scattered, clustered, to in large troops in wood chips, iceplant and grass; fruiting during the spring.
Edible but of little value.
This harbinger of spring is recognized by a cream-buff, smooth to cracked, sometimes appendiculate cap, membranous ring, and tendency to have pallid rhizomorphs at the base. It can be common along roadsides where it often fruits with Volvariella speciosa.
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