Cortinarius caperatus — The Gypsy

Card image cap

The Gypsy2, photograph by James Holkko.

Card image cap
Edible and sought after

Gills: Attached or notched; crowded; pale greyish to pale brownish
Spore print: Ochre brown

Close up showing the characteristic wrinkled cap of the Gypsy2, photograph by James Holkko.

Odour: Pleasant, indistinct.
Taste: Mild.
Cap: 5–13 cm in diameter, rounded when young, when the immature cap edge is still attached to the stem. Expanding and becoming almost flat or broadly conical. A low central bump is often obvious. The colour varies from middle brown at the centre to pale brown at the margin, and it will fade when the cap dries out. A whitish bloom on the cap is evident in many specimens. The surface is radially wrinkled in most cases.
Gills: Crowded, broadly attached to the top of the stem. The colour is pale to pinkish brown.
Stem: 5–15 cm long x 1–2.5 cm wide, cylindrical or slightly wider at base than in the middle. The surface is white-marbled, and stains light brown when scratched.
Ring or veil: Ring present as a white thick band on the stem.
Cup: None.
Spores: 12–13.5 x 7–8 µm, a bit lemon-shaped, pale brown, with low warts on the surface.
Habitat: In troops, on the ground in all kinds of forests. Common under Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) through BC and to Alaska1; ectomycorrhizal.
Geographic distribution: Known from North America including Mexico; Colombia in South America, Europe6.

Old specimens of the death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides) can become pale brown and resemble the Gypsy. The death cap mushroom is deadly poisonous; it has with white spores, and a cup at the base of the stem. Young death cap specimens have a distinct ring or skirt on the stem, but this might vanish with age.

Fieldcap species (Agrocybe praecox and A. dura) grow in spring on wood chips, etc. and are similar in colour to the Gypsy mushroom. They also have a ring on the stem but unlike the Gypsy, fieldcaps have a strong smell like that of flour and green beans. Fieldcap species are not known to be toxic but as edible mushrooms, they are much inferior to the Gypsy.

Rozites caperatus is an older name for the Gypsy mushroom.

The Gypsy mushroom is an efficient accumulator of mercury7. For this reason, eating more than ~500 g per week is not recommended.

Treatment: Contact your regional Poison Control Centre if you or someone you know is ill after eating Gypsy mushrooms. Poison centres provide free, expert medical advice 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If possible, save the mushrooms or some of the leftover food containing the mushrooms to help confirm identification.

Poison Control:
British Columbia: 604-682-5050 or 1-800-567-8911.
United States (WA, OR, ID): 1-800-222-1222.

1
MyCoPortal. Mycology Collections Portal, <http://mycoportal.org/portal/collections/harvestparams.php> accessed February 2018.
2
Specimen Cortinarius caperatus UBC F33018, GenBank #MH718231.
3
Niskanen, T. et al. Cortinarius (Pers.) Gray Pp. 661-777 in Funga Nordica, Agaricoid, Boletoid and Cyphelloid Genera (eds. Knudsen, H. & Vesteroholt, J.) Nordsvamp, Copenhagen, Denmark (2008).
4
Trudell, S., Ammirati, J. F. & Mello, M. Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon (2009).
5
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of Coastal Northern California. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, California (2016).
6
Abarenkov, K. et al. PlutoF-a Web based workbench for ecological and taxonomic research, with an online implementation for fungal ITS sequences. Evol. Bioinf. 6, 189-196, doi:10.4137/ebo.s6271 (2010).
7
Falandysz, J. Distribution of mercury in Gypsy Cortinarius caperatus mushrooms from several populations: An efficient accumulator species and estimated intake of element. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 110, 68-72, doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2014.08.018 (2014).