Shaggy Ink Cap (Coprinus comatus)

The Shaggy Ink Cap is sometimes
known as the Lawyer's Wig

The Shaggy Ink Cap, also popularly known as the Lawyer's Wig, is one of a quite large group of related, absolutely fascinating fungi that possess initially white, or at least very pale, gills that deliquesce, dissolve to form an inky black liquid (from which the genus gets its common name) that drips to the ground as part of the spore release process.

An autumnal species, the Shaggy Ink Cap can be found in the New Forest growing amongst grasses or leaf litter in broad-leaved woodland, at woodland edges and on Forest lawns. Away from the Crown Lands, this species is commonly seen along roadsides and growing on garden lawns, particularly in places where the ground has recently been disturbed.

Stems are quite tall - 10 centimetres, or more, in height - and feature a loose ring that often falls to the base of the stem; whilst caps, initially cylindrical in shape but eventually often opening out, are also typically tall.

Cap colour is initially white with a darker centre before eventually blackening from the edge upwards. The presence of quite large, prominent, shaggy scales explains the related common name.

Shaggy Ink Caps are good to eat, but only when young - before the gills start to blacken.

Warning: refer to a good, comprehensive fungus field guide to confirm identification, and only eat those species known without any doubt whatsoever to be edible - people have died after eating certain poisonous specimens.

References:
Mushrooms and other Fungi of Great Britain and Europe - Roger Phillips
The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-western Europe - Marcel Bon
Fungi of Britain and Europe - Stefan Buczacki and John Wilkinson
The MacDonald Encyclopedia of Mushrooms and Toadstools - Giovanni Pacioni
Fungi of the New Forest: A Mycota - Edited by Gordon Dickson and Ann Leonard
A Passion for Mushrooms - Antonio Carluccio