About Leucocoprinus ianthinus (Sacc.) P.Mohr
Leucocoprinus ianthinus is a small dapperling mushroom with thin white flesh. The cap grows between 1.5 and 7 cm across; it starts ovate or hemispherical, expands to a bell-shaped (campanulate) form with a prominent umbo as it ages, and becomes plano-convex with further age. The cap surface is whitish, with a dark purple to reddish brown centre and purplish scales that spread across the cap and become sparser toward the edges. Cap margins have striations that extend two thirds of the way across the cap, or up to the umbo. With age, margins may split radially, develop a yellowish discolouration, and commonly curve inwards. The gills are free, moderately crowded, and white. The stem is 3.5–7 cm long and 2–5 mm wide, tapering upwards from a slightly bulbous base, with a hollow interior. The stem surface is yellowish white near the top, whitish below the stem ring, covered in violet to lilac fibrillose coating at the base, and has a white tomentous covering on the bulb. The white, ascending stem ring has a purplish margin, but it may disappear. The spore print is white to pale lilac. Multiple different size ranges for spores are reported by different sources: 8–12 x 5.5–7.5 μm, 6.5–10 x 5.75–6.5 μm, or 9.5-10.5 x 6.5-7 μm. Spores are ellipsoid to amygdaliform, with a thick wall and a germ pore covered by a hyaline cap. They are dextrinoid, congophilous and cyanophilous; when stained with cresyl blue, pink colouration is visible in the spore's inner wall. Basidia measure 17–42 x 8–11 μm, and are mostly four-spored, rarely two-spored. The smell is a strong, astringent fungal scent, and the taste is fungal.
