After a few days away and the aftermath of Storm Babet, I wandered down to the watermeadow noting the muddy state of the paths and splashy fragility of Little Venice in particular. It was at the side of the steps next to the ramp that I noticed this toadstool, one of three. Its rounded cap had a slight peak on the top and a pleasing grey denim appearance and the flesh was white and fibrous. Next to it another toadstool in good condition and the third decomposed into a mess of pinky-grey gills and white flesh.
I’ve spent hours trying to identify it and as toadstools come and go so quickly, I don’t think I’m likely to find any further clues. I know this isn’t an inkcap, as clearly it would not leave a black spore-print, but a white one. That being the case, I can count it on the tally.
I asked Google Lens first of all. It told me it was either a March Mushroom (Hygrophorus marzuolus) or a Grey Knight (Tricholoma terreum). (It refused to identify the decomposed toadstool – I think it thought the amount of fleshy pink looked a bit suspect.) First, I discounted the March Mushroom, as it grows at high elevations, so we are a bit too near sea-level. I turned to my Collins guide and looked at the Tricholoma section.
The Grey Knight was a possibility, as although, like many of the Tricholoma toadstools, it likes a coniferous habitat; it will also grow near deciduous trees and is common. The cap is conical to umbonate (concave-sloped bell-shape) with mouse-grey fibres, the gills are white, turning grey and the stem is smooth white with no stem ring.
I found two other options:
The Beech Knight (Tricholoma sciodes) likes broad-leaved trees but is uncommon. The conical-umbonate cap is grey, darker in the centre with lines radiating out. They can grow up to 12 cm in diameter, which is wider than our specimins, though the decomposing one was larger. The gills are grey-white or slightly pink. The stem is quite thick and 4-8cm tall.
The Ashen Knight (Tricholoma virgatum) lives in broadleaved woodland, is widespread but uncommon, though I also read that it is “far from rare”. The flesh is grey-white, and the gills start out white and go grey-pink, as they have on the squashed one. The cap has a conical pip.
From the description, it could be the Ashen Knight, but is probably the Grey Knight, as that is more common.
Tricholoma means hairy fringe and refers to the gills, which give the cap a fringed appearance. Our specimens were too low to the ground to be able to see that.