10/11/2026
🍄 This one almost fooled me.
At first glance, I thought I had found field mushrooms (Agaricus campestris). They were popping up throughout the grass, and the young mushrooms looked surprisingly similar from above.
Then I flipped one over.
Meet Chlorophyllum molybdites, commonly called the green-spored parasol, false parasol, or—quite appropriately—the Vomiter.
Why the name? Because this mushroom is poisonous and notorious for causing severe gastrointestinal illness, including intense vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain.
One of the biggest clues is underneath the cap. The gills start pale when young but develop a grayish-green to green color as the spores mature. You can actually see that green beginning to show in one of these photos. Its spore print is also distinctly green.
Compare that with a field mushroom: its young gills are pink and mature to chocolate brown, with a brown spore print.
This was a good reminder that where a mushroom grows—or what its cap looks like from above—isn't enough to identify it. Even the same mushroom can look quite different depending on its age.
Sometimes the most important part of identifying a mushroom is simply turning it over and looking closer. 🍄
((Never consume a wild mushroom based on a photo or online identification alone.))
