Livid Pinkgill

Entoloma sinuatum

Toxic

Also called livid entoloma, lead poisoner.

The livid pinkgill is a large, pale gray mushroom with gills that start yellowish and turn pink. It grows under hardwoods in late summer and fall and causes severe gastrointestinal poisoning. It gets mistaken for edible gray or white mushrooms.

Entoloma sinuatum

Photo coming

The tell

A large gray cap with yellowish gills that turn pink, a pink spore print and a mealy smell.

Field marks

What to look at

Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.

Cap
Convex with an inrolled margin when young, becoming flat or wavy, often with a broad bump. Pale gray, grayish-tan or yellowish-gray, smooth and silky.
Underside
Gills yellowish at first, turning pink as the spores mature, notched where they meet the stem.
Stem
White to pale gray, thick and fibrous. No ring and no cup.
Flesh
Thick and white. Smells mealy, like fresh flour or cucumber.
Spore print
Salmon pink.
Size
Cap 2 1/2 to 6 inches (6 to 15 cm) wide; stem 2 to 5 inches (5 to 12 cm) tall.

Where and when

Where and when it grows

Habitat
Hardwood and mixed forests, especially under oak and beech, sometimes in parks.
Grows on
Soil, mycorrhizal with hardwood roots.
Season
Late summer through fall.
Range
Reported from both eastern and western North America.

Lookalikes

What the livid pinkgill gets confused with

Each card says how to tell the two apart.

  1. The miller (Clitopilus prunulus)

    Also pink-spored and mealy-smelling, but smaller, with a soft, chamois-like white to pale gray cap and gills that run down the stem.

Edibility

What the field guides say

Toxic

Field guides list the livid pinkgill as poisonous. It causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, usually within a few hours, and cases are recorded that needed hospital treatment for dehydration. The toxin has not been identified. In Europe it is one of the more frequent causes of mushroom poisoning.

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.

FAQ

Questions about the livid pinkgill

Is the livid pinkgill poisonous?

Yes. Field guides list it as poisonous, causing severe gastrointestinal illness: vomiting, diarrhea and cramps, starting within a few hours. The toxin responsible has not been identified.

What does the livid pinkgill look like?

A large, pale gray to yellowish-gray cap on a thick white stem, with gills that are yellowish when young and pink when mature. It has no ring, a mealy smell and a pink spore print.

How do you identify Entoloma mushrooms?

Entolomas have pink to salmon spore prints and gills that turn pink as they mature. Many have a mealy smell. Telling species apart often takes microscopic features.

Sources

Where these facts come from

  3. Entoloma sinuatum

    Index Fungorum

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”.