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Mushroom Monday: Wine Cap Mushroom (Stropharia rugosoannulata)
Hello Mushroom Monday fans! Today’s Mushroom Monday mushroom is the wine cap mushroom (Stropharia rugosoannulata). No need to have a corkscrew as we twist off the cap and learn more about wine cap mushrooms.
The Name
Wine cap mushrooms are called wine caps because of the color of their caps, which can resemble the color of red wine. They can also be called king stropharia and garden giant because of the large potential size they have.
Where can Wine Cap Mushrooms be Found Growing?
Wine cap mushrooms can be found in urban settings in wood chips, gardens, and places that have been cultivated. They can also be found in more wild settings and can grow in sunnier places than some other mushrooms can. They’ll either be found alone or in groups and can be found growing in different places in North America.
What do Wine Cap Mushrooms Look Like?
Wine cap mushrooms have caps the color of red wine to a red/brown color, although their color can fade to be more yellow/brown with age. The color of the cap will vary depending on the sunlight it gets.
Caps generally can be around 1.5 to 5 inches across, although they can grow much larger. They start out with a convex shape and flatten as they mature. Their caps are dry, shiny, and hairless and can sometimes have pieces of their veils around their edges.
The gills of wine caps start out with a white to gray color and later become more purple and grayer. The gills and stem are attached, and the gills are spaced closely together.
The stems can get to be around 3.2 to 6.3 inches tall and can either have a consistent diameter down their length or can be wider at the base. They are dry and either don’t have any hairs or have fine hairs. Their color is white and turns yellow/brown as it ages. The stem has a thick ring with grooves on the top side that is split on the underside. White threads of the mycelium can be seen at the base.
What Kind of Mushrooms are Wine Cap Mushrooms?
Wine cap mushrooms are saprophytic mushrooms and decompose dead and decaying organic matter.
If you liked learning about wine cap mushrooms, check out our other Mushroom Monday posts on our TrueTreeTalk blog. Follow us on Facebook to keep up with these and other posts.
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