Coprinellus micaceus
Also called glistening inky cap, shiny cap.
The mica cap is a small honey-brown mushroom that grows in dense clusters on stumps, buried roots and lawns near trees. Young caps sparkle with tiny mica-like granules. It is one of the first mushrooms to appear after spring rains in towns.
The tell
Small honey-brown, finely grooved caps dusted with glittering granules, in clusters on or near rotting wood.
Field marks
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
Where and when
Lookalikes
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Galerina marginata
The deadly galerina also grows in clusters on wood and has a brown cap, but it leaves a rusty brown spore print, usually has a ring or ring zone on the stem, and its gills never turn black or liquefy. It contains amatoxins.
Coprinopsis atramentaria
The common inkcap is larger and gray to gray-brown rather than honey-colored, has no glistening granules, and its gills dissolve fully into ink. It contains coprine.
Psathyrella candolleana has a pale, smooth cap without grooves or granules, often with white veil fragments on the edge, and its gills do not liquefy.
Edibility
Field guides list the mica cap as edible when fresh, noting that it is thin-fleshed and begins to break down within hours of picking. Its main danger is confusion with small brown mushrooms that grow in the same places, including the deadly galerina, which contains amatoxins. The spore print separates them: dark brown to black for the mica cap, rusty brown for the galerina.
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
Field guides list them as edible when fresh. They are small and thin, and the caps begin to darken and break down within hours. The deadly galerina, which can grow on the same stumps, is the confusion field guides warn about.
Young caps are covered in tiny glistening granules that look like flakes of the mineral mica. The granules are fragments of the veil and wash off in rain, so older caps are often bare.
In clusters on hardwood stumps, at the base of trees, and in lawns or gardens over buried roots. They are common in towns and often fruit several times a year after rain.
Sources
MushroomExpert.com
Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)
Missouri Department of Conservation
Index Fungorum
Also on Mushrooms.id
Panaeolus foenisecii
A small brown bell-shaped cap in lawns that dries paler in bands, with mottled brown gills and a dark brown spore print.
Coprinus comatus
Tall white cylindrical cap covered in shaggy scales, with gills that dissolve into black ink from the bottom edge up.
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