Chlorophyllum rhacodes / brunneum is a fascinating looking little mushroom. The cap is white with thick grayish brown scales that give it a unique texture. The stem of this mushroom is thick and sturdy. The gills of are white or cream-colored, and are closely spaced. This mushroom could easily be confused with an Amanita species. It often times will have a bulbous base even, making look even more like an Amanita. However, the unique splitting and peeling of the scales on the cap, and it’s tough an stocky nature set it apart from the more fragile or veil remnants that are set upon the cap surface of some Amanitas. Overall, it is quite an interesting little doppelganger of a mushroom, and it always pops up in the most unexpected places because it often grows in disturbed soils near the edges of human habitats.
