Shaggy mane, lawyer’s wig
(Coprinus comatus family Coprinaceae) The shaggy mane is a tall mushroom with a cap that never opens up. Instead, it auto-digests to release its spores, gradually disappearing into an inky mess, thereby declaring its membership in the Inky Cap mushroom family. Sprouting quickly after heavy rains, it is one of the most easily recognized of all mushrooms with its whitish-gray barrel-shaped cap, which can be six inches long and covered with large shaggy scales. When young, it is juicy and excellent in soups. This mushroom is extremely fragile and cannot be stored for any length of time. If stored with other mushrooms, the shaggy mane tends to bleed black spores which discolour everything near it. Caution: The Alcohol Inky Cap (Coprinus atramentarius) is a poisonous look-alike and must not be consumed with alcohol.
