The Weeping Widow - Lacrymaria Lacrymabunda

These are the first mushrooms I have found in my garden of my 6-7 year old house and I was surprised to find three whole flushes of about this size!! My garden is mowed every 2-3 weeks and the grass is generally kept tame by my two energetic labradoodles. Given this, it's no surprise that this species graced my garden as it loves to grow on disturbed soil.

ID features:

Gills - Dark brown to whitish, adnate/adnexed, crowded

Spores - black

Stem: even or slightly tapered upwards, fibrous scaly below the irregular ring zone. Hollow inside.

Cap: light to darkish reddish brown, lighter around the edges and fringed with veil remnants. Fibrous in young but gets a smooth, velvety appearance with age and has yellowish and light brown tinges. Initially convex and broadly umbonate in shape but gets flatter.

Smell: Earthy

Part of the Psathryllaceae family or 'brittlestems' and really common in autumn in the UK. The name Lacrymaria comes from the latin word Lacrimosos meaning weeping or mournful. Interestingly, this mushroom is famously found around graveyards as if they are mourning for the dead.

This species is Saprobic and is an important food scources for some species of fly larvae.

This is technically edible but requires a lot of cooking to be safe, needs to be cooked directly after picking (or turns to mush) and has little flavour (bitter).