Agaricus vinosobrunneofumidus Kerrigan

Image location: Wharton State Forest, Burlington Co., New Jersey, USA

Agaricus is a rare sight in the NJ Pine Barrens (not much organic matter in the acidic soil perhaps?) and it prefers to fruit in cooler weather of early to mid-fall. I’ve seen this particular species (a or perhaps a very similar mushroom) at various locations in the usual pine-oak habitat on a few occasion in the past.

Description: A single, nearly mature specimen in great shape growing in sandy soil and leaf litter on the edge of a trail in blueberry bushes under standing dead oak trunks and surrounded by a grove of white oaks and a few pitch pines. > Cap convex to umbrella-shaped, 7.5 cm in diameter and 7 mm thick in the middle, with an appendiculate margin. > Gills pink, free, crowded, 5 mm wide. > Stipe white, straight and equal, with a flaring pink apex and bent base/bulb, 10.5 cm long including the base, which is ~1.5 cm long, 1.1 cm wide at the junction with the cap and on average 0.8 cm wide below and 1.5 cm wide at base/bulb, with a central canal. > Partial veil membranous, attached to stipe 3.5 cm below apex, smooth on the inner surface, woolly-cottony on the outer surface, with a frayed edge. > Flesh white and thin, discoloring reddish-brown, the staining fairly light and restricted mostly to the stipe, stipe-cap juncture and just above the gills. > Odor strong and very pleasant, with a hint of anise and bitter chocolate. > Spores brownish-yellow to reddish-brown in Melzer’s, (4.7-) 5.1-6.0 (-6.3) x (3.0-) 3.3-3.5 (-3.7) μm, generally 5.1-5.8 × 3.3-3.5 μm. > KOH = negative to pale greenish-gray on cap and negative on the flesh (edited Aug. 28).

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