Commonly mistaken as the true parasol mushroom, Chlorophyllum molybdites (also considered to be a Lepiota and therefore called Lepiota molybdites, or an even older name, Lepiota morgani) could easily be the cause of most mushroom poisonings in the United States. Although only producing a severe unpleasant experience in adults, these can be fatal to children and when they are in the stage of stuffing everything on the ground into their mouths, this mushroom becomes a danger.
Cap: beginning in the universal veil, first appearing as small drumstick-tips and then becoming convex to plane and upon maturing slightly to deeply depressed and imposing. The remnants of the veil remain on the white to cream cap as uplifted paper-like warts that are brownish and more concentrated near the center of the cap. Margin not striate, discoloration not present.
Gills: usually free, spaced fairly close to mediumly close, often wavy. A key feature of Chlorophyllum molybdites is how the mature gills become grayish-greenish in age (hence its common name, the "Green-spored Lepiota").
Stalk: Usually slender and white at first, soon darkening (at least near the base) to red and brown tones.
Ring: present and double-edged, i.e. not skirtlike, capable of being moved in old age and discoloring near the bottom.
Spore Print: greenish.
This is a common suburban mushroom that thrives in the irrigated lawns of the Sonoran desert, almost exclusively on well-kept grass.
