Destroying angel vs meadow mushroom
- Deadly: Destroying Angel
Destroying angels keep white gills, print white and hide a cup at the base. Meadow mushrooms have pink to brown gills and a brown print.
Horse mushroom vs meadow mushroom: how to tell them apart
Quick answer
The meadow mushroom's young gills are bright pink and its ring is thin and fragile, often gone; the horse mushroom's young gills are whitish to grayish with no bright pink stage, and its large ring has a cogwheel pattern underneath. The horse mushroom is also larger and smells sweet, of anise or almonds.
Side by side
The tell for each
Edible
The tellLarge white cap that slowly bruises yellowish, grayish pink to brown gills, a large ring with a cogwheel pattern beneath, and an anise smell.
Edible
The tellWhite cap on a short stem, with bright pink gills that turn chocolate brown, growing in grass.
How they differ
| Feature | Horse Mushroom | Meadow Mushroom |
|---|---|---|
| Young gills | Horse MushroomWhitish to grayish, without a bright pink stage. | Meadow MushroomBright pink. |
| Ring | Horse MushroomLarge, with a cogwheel pattern on its underside. | Meadow MushroomThin and fragile, often disappearing. |
| Smell | Horse MushroomSweet, of anise or almonds. | Meadow MushroomPleasant, without anise. |
| Cap size | Horse Mushroom3 to 8 inches (7.5 to 20 cm). | Meadow Mushroom1 to 4 inches (2.5 to 10 cm). |
| Bruising | Horse MushroomSlowly yellowish. | Meadow MushroomNo yellowing; flesh sometimes slightly pinkish. |
| Spore print | Horse MushroomChocolate brown. | Meadow MushroomChocolate brown to blackish brown. |
FAQ
Common questions
What is the difference between a horse mushroom and a meadow mushroom?
Size, smell and the gills. Horse mushrooms are larger, smell of almonds or anise, and lack the meadow mushroom's bright pink young gills.
What is the horse mushroom's scientific name?
Agaricus fissuratus. It has long been called Agaricus arvensis, but MushroomExpert.com and MykoWeb, following Kerrigan (2016), treat the common North American horse mushroom as A. fissuratus.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Agaricus fissuratus (horse mushroom)
MushroomExpert.com
- Agaricus campestris
MushroomExpert.com
- Meadow Mushroom
Missouri Department of Conservation
Keep checking
Read both pages in full
- More on the horse mushroom
- More on the meadow mushroom
- Not sure it is either? Narrow it down with the identification key
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
More comparisons
Horse mushroom vs yellow stainer
- Toxic: Yellow Stainer
Scratched or cut at the stem base, the yellow stainer turns chrome yellow fast and smells of ink. The horse mushroom yellows slowly and smells of almond.
Meadow mushroom vs yellow stainer
- Toxic: Yellow Stainer
Scratched or cut, a yellow stainer's cap and stem base turn chrome yellow, and it smells of ink. A meadow mushroom does not yellow and smells pleasant.
Waitlist
Hear when it opens
We will send one email when Mushrooms.id opens, and nothing else.
Email us to join
This opens your email app with the request written for you. Send it and we add you to the list. No email app? Write to hello@mushrooms.id with the subject “Add me to the Mushrooms.id waitlist”.