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Fried Chicken Mushroom - Lyophyllum decastes
Also known as Field Mushroom, Clustered Brown Cap

Grows in clusters (10's to 100's) in disturbed ground, lawns, grassland, waste ground, usually seen September to March. A round flat thin planar cap 4-10cm (1.5-4in) across with a smooth sometimes moist texture, becoming convex with upturned edges with age, white narrow gills underneath with a white spore print, on a whitish stalk or "Stipe" between 5-10cm (2-4in) tall, 1-3cm (0.5-1.25in) diameter with no annulus. Variable colouration, dark brown through to grey. Most sources list this mushroom as edible but FBCP do not advise or recommend that Fried Chicken Mushroom is eaten. A complex species with many forms which can be mistaken for The Honey Mushroom (Armillaria mellea), this however differs by having a yellow-brown to reddish-brown cap with a slightly scaly disc and an annulus. Boantical naming - Lyo from Greek meaning loose or free, phyllum (Greek) from the word leaf and deca (Greek) meaning 'in tens', referring to the clustered habit.

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