Lepiota castanea
Encyclopedia
Lepiota castanea, commonly known as the chestnut dapperling, is a dangerously poisonous, uncommon, gilled mushroom
of the genus Lepiota
in the order Agaricales
. It is known to contain amatoxin
s and consuming this fungus can be a potentially lethal proposition. It was described by French mycologist Lucien Quélet
in 1881.
It has white gills and spores. They typically have rings on the stems, which in larger fungi are detachable and glide up and down the stem.
It can be found in coniferous and deciduous woodlands, mostly singly or in small groups.
Like several other species of the genus Lepiota, it contains amatoxin
s which can result in severe liver toxicity.
The spores and flesh are white, with a mild taste. The stem is typically chestnut brown.
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
of the genus Lepiota
Lepiota
Lepiota is a genus of gilled mushrooms in the family Agaricaceae. All Lepiota species are ground-dwelling saprotrophs with a preference for rich, calcareous soils. Basidiocarps are agaricoid with whitish spores, typically with scaly caps and a ring on the stem. Around 400 species of Lepiota are...
in the order Agaricales
Agaricales
The fungal order Agaricales, also known as gilled mushrooms , or euagarics, contains some of the most familiar types of mushrooms. The order has 33 extant families, 413 genera, and over 13000 described species, along with five extinct genera known only from the fossil record...
. It is known to contain amatoxin
Amatoxin
Amatoxins are a subgroup of at least eight toxic compounds found in several genera of poisonous mushrooms, most notably Amanita phalloides and several other members of the genus Amanita, as well as some Conocybe, Galerina and Lepiota mushroom species.-Structure:The compounds have a similar...
s and consuming this fungus can be a potentially lethal proposition. It was described by French mycologist Lucien Quélet
Lucien Quélet
thumb|Lucien QuéletLucien Quélet was a French mycologist and naturalist who discovered several species and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycological studies....
in 1881.
It has white gills and spores. They typically have rings on the stems, which in larger fungi are detachable and glide up and down the stem.
It can be found in coniferous and deciduous woodlands, mostly singly or in small groups.
Like several other species of the genus Lepiota, it contains amatoxin
Amatoxin
Amatoxins are a subgroup of at least eight toxic compounds found in several genera of poisonous mushrooms, most notably Amanita phalloides and several other members of the genus Amanita, as well as some Conocybe, Galerina and Lepiota mushroom species.-Structure:The compounds have a similar...
s which can result in severe liver toxicity.
Description
The cap is broadly bell shaped to flat, dark red-brown; soon splitting and scaly, up to 3 cm in diameter.The spores and flesh are white, with a mild taste. The stem is typically chestnut brown.