The Salty Agaric (Agaricus Bernardii) Identification

The Salty Agaric / Summer / Autumn / Edible

Scientific Name

Agaricus Bernardii


Common Names

The Salty Agaric, The Salt-loving mushroom.


Family

Agaricaceae


Habitat

As their common name suggests they love salty environments so are most often found near to the coast, although they are becoming more common on inland roads that are well gritted.


Description 

A fairly easy to identify mushroom, although they are not massively common. They have a familiar mushroomy taste and come ready seasoned.


Identifying Features:

Cap:

Convex when young and then flattening out, they can reach up to 15cm across. The caps are whitish in colour but often have darker brown spots or scales on their surface. The flesh will stain red when damaged.

This image was created by user Ron Pastorino (Ronpast) at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images.You can contact this user here.English | español | français | italiano | македонски | മലയാളം | português | +/−, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Stem:

Thick and stout, around 5cm tall, they have a partial veil covering the gills when young as this breaks away it leaves a ring.

This image was created by user Nathan Wilson (nathan) at Mushroom Observer, a source for mycological images.You can contact this user here.English | español | français | italiano | македонски | മലയാളം | português | +/−, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Gills:

The gills are pinkish when young they darken to a rich, chocolate brown colour as the spores mature. The gills and quite crowded and free from the stem.

Free Gills

Smell:

Slightly briny mixed with aniseed.


Spores:

Brown.


Uses

In food

They have a similar flavour to shop bought mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus), but with a slightly salty flavour. They work well in most dishes that call from mushrooms.


Known hazards

They are known to bioaccumulate silver when they grow on contaminated land. As they can also be found at the sides of roads there is potential risk of contamination here.


Potential lookalikes

Other members of the Agaricus family can look similar but the Salty stains red when damaged and grows in salty environments so it is quite easy to ID.


Extra Notes

The species was named after the original collector, G. Bernard.


Resources

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/agaricus-bernardii.php

https://www.discoverthewild.co.uk/MushroomGuide/Salty-Mushroom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agaricus_bernardii

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