Photo by Prof Shaftner.
Figure 269.—Coprinus comatus.
Figure 270.—Coprinus comatus. One-half natural size.
Comatus is from coma, having long hair, shaggy. It is so called from a fancied resemblance to a wig on a barber's block. A description is hardly necessary with a photograph before us. They always remind us of a congregation of goose eggs standing on end. This plant cannot be confounded with any other, and the finder is the happy possessor of a rich, savory morsel that cannot be duplicated in any market.
The pileus is fleshy, moist, at first egg-shaped, cylindrical, becoming bell-shaped, seldom expanded, splitting at the margin along the line of the gills, adorned with scattered yellowish scales, tinged with purplish-black, yet sometimes entirely white; surface shaggy.
The gills are free, crowded, equal, creamy white, becoming pink, brown, then black, and dripping an inky fluid.
The stem is three to eight inches long, hollow, smooth, or slightly fibrillose, tapering upward, creamy-white, brittle, easily separating from the cap, slightly bulbous at the base. The ring is rarely adherent or movable in young plants, later lying on the ground at the base of the stem or disappearing altogether. The spores are black and elliptical, and are shed in liquid drops.
Found in damp rich ground, gardens, rich lawns, barnyards, and dumping grounds. They often grow in large clusters. They are found everywhere in great abundance, from May till late frost. A weak stomach can digest any of the Coprini when almost any other food will give it trouble. I am always pleased to give a dish of any Coprini to an invalid.