Melanoleuca turrita (Fries) Singer
Cap 5-12cm, convex then soon flattened with a central boss, the margin inrolled and grooved like a pie crust, surface smooth and dry, dark blackish-brown to grey-brown, paler with age. sometimes with fine white frosting. Stem robust, 40-100x15-25mm, cylindrical, dark grey-brown, longitudinally lined with coarse floccules. Flesh white at first then dull yellowish-white, blackish below the cap skin, dark ochre-brown in the stem base. Smell weak, mushroomy. Taste slightly rancid. Gills with sinuose margin, thin and crowded, pale grey to darker grey when young, whitish when old with slight buff tint. Spore print white. Spores 7-8x4-5µ, elliptic, with very fine warts. Cystidia on gill margin and gill face spindle-shaped, pointed with apex encrusted with crystals. Habitat under broadleaf trees in rich soil, on woodchip mulch beds in gardens. Rare to occasional. Season summer to autumn. Edibility unknown. Distribution Europe. Thanks to Geoffrey Kibby for this picture and text.