Chlorophyllum agaricoides
{{Short description|Species of fungus}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Chlorophyllum_agaricoides_(Denver_Botanic_Gardens_Herbarium_of_Fungi).png
| genus = Chlorophyllum
| species = agaricoides
| authority = (Czern.) Vellinga
| synonyms =
- Endoptychum agaricoides Czernajew, V.M. (1845)
}}
{{mycomorphbox
| name = Chlorophyllum agaricoides
| capShape = conical
| hymeniumType = gleba
| whichGills = NA
| stipeCharacter = bare
| ecologicalType = saprotrophic
| sporePrintColor = olive-brown
| howEdible = edible
}}
Chlorophyllum agaricoides, commonly known as the gasteroid lepiota,{{cite book |last1=Arora |first1=David |title=Mushrooms demystified: a comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi |date=1986 |publisher=Ten Speed Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-89815-169-5 |edition=Second}} puffball parasol, false puffball, or puffball agaric, is a species of fungus belonging to the family Agaricaceae.{{cite web |title=Chlorophyllum agaricoides (Czern.) Vellinga |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/5955379 |website=www.gbif.org |access-date=7 February 2021 |language=en}} When young, it is edible,{{cite web |title=What's become of Macrolepiota rhacodes? |url=https://www.svims.ca/council/Chloro.htm |website=www.svims.club |access-date=1 August 2022 |language=en}} and has been traditionally eaten in Turkey for many years. {{cite journal |title=Determination of antioxidant activities and chemical composition of sequential fractions of five edible mushrooms from Turkey |year=2019 |pmc=7171027 |language=en|last1=Sezgin |first1=S. |last2=Dalar |first2=A. |last3=Uzun |first3=Y. |journal=Journal of Food Science and Technology |volume=57 |issue=5 |pages=1866–1876 |doi=10.1007/s13197-019-04221-7 |pmid=32327797 }}
It has a cosmopolitan distribution, with documented records from China,{{cite journal |last1=Ge |first1=Z. W. |last2=Yang |first2=Zhu L. |date=1 June 2006 |title=The Genus Chlorophyllum (Basidiomycetes) in China |url=http://groups.kib.cas.cn/klpb/yzl/tnh_fblw/201201/P020140126480877325099.pdf |journal= Mycotaxon|volume=96 |issue=1 |pages=181–191 |access-date=1 August 2022}} Mongolia, Bulgaria,{{cite journal |last1=Lacheva |first1=Maria |date=1 January 2012 |title=New Data of Some Rare Larger Fungi of Agaricaceae (Agaricales) in Bulgaria |url=http://www.sustz.com/journal/VolumeII/Number6/Papers/MariaLacheva1.pdf |journal= Plant Studies|volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=24–29 |access-date=1 August 2022}} and Turkey. It is also a protected species in Hungary,{{cite web |title=Lemezes pöfeteg - Chlorophyllum agaricoides |url=http://www.miskolcigombasz.hu/fajlistank.php?PPE_SID=&action=showKind&langOrder=hu&caller=kindList&kindId=728 |website=www.miskolcigombasz.hu |access-date=1 August 2022 |language=en}} and is believed to be in decline across Europe due to habitat destruction.
Description
It is a secotioid mushroom, meaning its hymenium takes the form of a gleba made of underdeveloped gills, completely enclosed by the cap, which never fully opens. This protects the mushroom from desiccation. The cap is egg-shaped to spherical, often tapering upward to form a blunt, conical point 1–7cm wide and 2–10cm tall. It is white, and becomes dark brown with age. It is mostly smooth, with some small fibrils, though it may also develop fibrous scales. The gills are contorted, irregularly chambered, and underdeveloped, making up an enclosed gleba which is white, aging to a mustardy yellow-brown. The stipe is 0–3cm long and 0.5–2cm thick. There is no ring. Its odor becomes cabbagey with age. It grows singularly or in clusters mostly on cultivated land or grass, though occasionally on the forest floor. The spores are 6.5–9.5 x 5–7 μm, globose to elliptic, green to yellow-brown, turning reddish brown in Melzer's reagent. The germ pore is indistinct. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia are absent. Agaricus inapertus is a look-alike, although unlike C. agaricoides, it prefers forests and develops a black gleba with age.