Community find

Pleated Inkcap

Parasola plicatilis

Group

gilled mushroom

Spore print

Black

Size

Cap 1-2 cm diameter; Stipe 3-7 cm long and 1-2 mm thick.

Season

Spring, summer, and autumn, especially after rain or when mornings are humid/dewy.

Habitat

Found in short grass, lawns, parks, and meadows. It grows on the ground in soil enriched with organic matter.

Distribution

Widespread and common across Europe, North America, and many other temperate regions worldwide.

Key characteristics

Tiny, delicate, umbrella-shaped mushroom with a deeply pleated or grooved cap that resembles a paper parasol. The center of the cap (disc) is usually brownish-yellow while the rest is greyish-white.

Fruiting body

Cap starts cylindrical then expands to a flat disc with deep radial grooves (pleats). Gills are free, staying grey then turning black but not deliquescing (melting) into ink as quickly as other inkcaps. Stipe is long, very thin, brittle, and translucent white.

How to recognise it

Look for the distinctive parasol-like pleats and the lack of a veil on the cap or stem. It often appears overnight on lawns and disappears by midday when the sun dries it out.

Look-alikes

Parasola leiocephala and Parasola auricoma, which require microscopy to differentiate reliably, and Coprinellus disseminatus which grows in dense clusters.

Ecological role

Saprophytic, breaking down organic matter in the soil and grass thatch.

Notes

The Pleated Inkcap is a very short-lived fungus, often lasting only a few hours. It lacks the 'autodigestion' or melting gill process typical of most other mushrooms in the inkcap family (Coprinoid fungi).