Estimated value
Not a sellable food species.
Almost never sold — it liquefies in hours. Home use only, same-day cook.
culinary · edible
Shaggy Mane
Coprinus comatus
Also called Lawyer's wig
Field marks
- Spore print
- Black
- Smell
- Mild
- Trees / hosts
- None required
- Elevation
- Low.
Description
Tall white shaggy cylinder that auto-digests into black ink from the bottom up. Eat only young, white, unopened specimens the day you pick them. Do not drink alcohol with Coprinopsis atramentaria (a cousin); C. comatus is generally safer but still cook fresh.
Where it grows
Disturbed soil, paths, lawns.
How to find it
Lawns, gravel roads, disturbed ground after rain. Urban and rural.
How to pick
Pull young buttons only. If ink has started, leave it.
Medicinal notes
Culinary curiosity. Some hypoglycemic research; not medical advice.
Psychoactive / controlled
None.
Law
Legal food. Poor commercial species.
Lookalikes
Coprinopsis atramentaria (alcohol inky)
Smoother gray cap. Causes a violent reaction with alcohol.
Young Amanita
Never shaggy in the same way; has volva and ring. Dig the base.
Field ID ticket
Tick every required mark in the woods. 0/3 required. This still is not laboratory certainty.
Do not eat or sell this specimen. Missing required marks.