St Georges Mushroom (Calocybe gambosa)

St George’s Mushroom/ Spring / Edible

st Georges mushroom is a brilliant edible springtime mushroom, look around St George’s Day after some rain.


Botanical name

Calocybe gambosa


Meaning of botanical name

From the ancient Greek words kalos “pretty” and cubos “head”, and the Latin gambosus, meaning “club footed”. The species name is a reference to the often one-sided bulbousness of the stem base


Season

Spring


Scientific Classification:

Division: Basidiomycota, Class: Agaricomycetes, Order: Agaricales, Family: Lyophyllaceae, Genus: Calocybe, Species: Gambosa


Known harzard

None known


Could be confused with

The Deadly Fibrecap (Inocybe erubescens), but the gills of this bruise red and it does not smell mealy


Food of

The larvae of several species of fly


Range and distribution

Western Europe


St Georges Foraging Video


Habitat

Grassland, the edge of woodland, hedgerows


Physical characteristics of the st Georges mushroom

A stout white-capped mushroom, with white gills.


Cap

The cap grows to 5-15cm and often turns buff with age.


Stem

The stem is solid and more bulbous towards the base, white throughout and between 1 – 8cm. It has no ring on the stem and is often found growing in rings. It can be found growing in tight clusters and partial rings.


Gills

The gills are very narrow compared and crowded.

They are sinuate.

sinuate gill


Smell

The mushroom has a strong mealy/wet dough scent.


Season

This mushroom fruits a few weeks before to a few weeks after St George’s Day, 23 April; thus its common name


Edible use

One of the few mushrooms that can be eaten raw. St George’s Mushrooms can also be pickled. However, the most popular method to eat them is fried in butter. Cooking can remove some of the mealy odour/flavour. Also a good mushroom for dehydrating, as well as using in stocks


Herbal

Some evidence of antifungal properties is being researched currently.
 If you have a medical complaint, please see your doctor


Miscellaneous

Be aware of traffic-related toxins in the soil if collecting from roadside


Tips and Observations

Look out for rings of lush grass throughout the year and check them in April to May

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