Spring field caps / Spring / Summer / Edible
The Spring Field caps (Agrocybe praecox) are one of the early arrivals in the fungal calendar, popping up in grassy areas and woodland edges as the days start to warm. Its pale, honey-coloured cap and stout stem make it a charming find during springtime walks. foragers.
For those keen on expanding their foraging knowledge, the Spring Fieldcap is an excellent species to recognise, offering a glimpse into the season’s changing landscape.
In this post, we’ll explore how to identify these cheerful little mushrooms, where they tend to grow, and why they’re better left admired than gathered.
Scientific Name
Agrocybe praecox
Agro meaning field and Praecox meaning pre equinox (spring)
Common Name
Spring fieldcap, spring agaric
Family
Strophariacea
Habitat and season
Saprophytic growing in woodchip, woodland edges and also in mulch and straw. Often growing in large groups.
Fairly common find in the UK, from spring through to summer.
Identifying Features
Cap:
Cap is 4-8 cm convex in shape, later flattening out with age, cream to tan in color and smooth . The cap surface can be greasy when young and become dry with a matt satin texture even cracking slightly at the margin.
Stem:
4-7cm tall and 5-10mm wide with a white delicate ring that later turns brown and may disappear. The stem is white/ cream in colour becoming darker with age and is slightly bulbous at the base. The stem is attached to a prominent mycelial cord looking like a white root, If it’s growing on wood chip or mulch it’s easy to unearth and see this.
Gills:
Initially cream turning turning mid brown as spores mature, adnexed and crowded.
Flesh:
Firm, white/ cream, with no colour changes,
Smell:
Faintly mealy
Spores
Brown spore deposit
Edibility/culinary uses for Spring field caps
Considered a passable edible mushroom if well cooked as its slightly poisonous raw , though not highly rated due to its bitter taste. Bare in mind this mushroom is considered an advanced ID so when you weigh up that it’s not the best tasting anyway it’s definitely best left.
Spring field caps Could Be Confused With
Agrocybe precox is part of a complex and would need lab analysis to correctly identify, some others have unknown edibility or cautions so best left. Could easily be confused with other related field caps two are listed below. Also possibly with Agaricus sp but these have free gills which are pink when young. The spring cavalier Melanoluca cognata which has the same growth time and habitat but has no ring, is a larger mushroom and a cream spore print.
Popular fieldcap- Appears in dense clusters/groups usually near or on popular wood stumps. Other differences are the stem gets slightly thinner at the base not thicker, the gills are slightly decurrent which the spring fieldcaps are not. Lastly the Popular fieldcap has a strong pleasant smell.
Wrinkled fieldcap- Agrocybe rivulosa. Smell is mild. The cap has wrinkles in folks like river valleys.
Caution and known hazards
Slightly toxic when raw. Risk of misidentification.
Resources
Edible mushrooms by Geoff Dann
Fungi of temperate Europe by Thomas Laesson and Jens H.Peterson