Freckled Dapperling
Formerly a member of the genus Lepiota, this mushroom has undergone quite a few taxanomic changes and is now accepted as a member of genus Echinoderma (meaning hedgehog or porcupine like skin).
Scientific Name – Echinoderma asperum
Common Names:
Freckled Dapperling (EN), Pertyn Brych (CY), Jeżoskórka Ostrołuskowa (PL), Tüskés Őzlábgomba (HU)
Please note that each and every mushroom you come across may vary in appearance to these photos.
Cap
6-18 cm. The cap is tan/orange/pale brown with dark brown pyramid scales especially concentrated in the middle. The cap starts convex but opens out flat to having upturned edges with age.
Gills
White, very crowded and free of the stem. Young mushrooms have a cotton like veil covering the gills rather like a Cortinarius.
Stem
5-11 cm long, 0.7-2 cm diameter. The stem is off white to tan, smooth above the ring, sparsely covered in brown scales below.
Skirt
Smooth and cotton like on top with brown scales at the edge on the underside.
Flesh
White.
Habitat
Saprotrophic, mainly grows in deciduous woodland or on woodchip in parks or gardens. More frequent in Southern Britain.
Possible Confusion
Can look like the rarer Echinoderma hystrix.
Has a passing resemblance to The Blusher (Amanita rubescens), pictured.
Other Facts
The edibility of this mushroom seems unknown and it has been shown to have adverse effects when consumed with alcohol so we don’t recommend consumption of this mushroom. This same species was described by Weinmann in 1824 as Agaricus acutesquamosus and by Wilhelm Gottfried Lasch in 1828 as Agaricus friesii, giving rise to corresponding synonyms in genera Lepiota and Echinoderma. Although most authorities now consider all these names to be synonyms, Meinhard Michael Moser separated the acutesquamosum form from the asperum form as different species, on the basis that the latter has forking gills and the former not.
