Common Inkcap
Coprinopsis atramentaria · Psathyrellaceae
Also called Tipplers Bane
Edible in itself, but it causes a violent reaction with alcohol taken up to three days later.
Edible with caution. Contains coprine. Eaten within three days of drinking alcohol it causes flushing, palpitations and vomiting. We recommend leaving this one alone.
Read the full foraging safety guidance.
Season
April to November
Where it grows
- Grassland
- Buried wood
- Gardens
- Verges
Identification
- Cap
- 3-7cm, grey-brown, egg-shaped then bell-shaped, finely grooved, dissolving to ink.
- Gills / pores
- Crowded, white then black and liquefying.
- Stem
- White, hollow, smooth, no real ring.
- Flesh
- Thin, pale.
- Spore print
- Black.
- Smell & taste
- Mild.
Lookalikes
Shaggy Inkcap is white and shaggy. Other small inkcaps are similar and equally best avoided.
In the kitchen
Best not eaten at all.
Also caution
Chicken of the Woods
Laetiporus sulphureus
Vivid sulphur-yellow and orange brackets on standing trees, with a texture famously like chicken breast.
Wood Blewit
Lepista nuda
A late-season woodland mushroom with a striking lilac flush and a perfumed smell.
Field Blewit
Lepista saeva
A pasture mushroom with a dull buff cap and an unmistakable violet-blue stem.