Cap: at first cylindrical or oval then bell-shaped, fleshy, fragile, white and covered with woolly, whitish, shaggy scales which have brown tips; the centre of the cap is smooth and yellow to ochraceous whilst the margin becomes striate and lilaceous and finally black as the tissue liquefies (autodigests) and the margin rolls up to expose new areas of spore-bearing tissue.
Stem: tall, white, smooth and tapered towards the apex, with a white ring which can easily move up and down the stem with handling, and which soon disappears with age.
Plate 40. Fleshy fungi becoming reduced to an inky mass: Spores black and borne on gills
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Gills: free at first, white then pink and finally black, becoming gradually dissolved into a black fluid from the base of the cap upwards.
Flesh: white, thin, except immediately in the central area of the cap.
Spore-print: blackish-purple.
Spores: long, elongate-ellipsoid, large and about 13 × 5-8 µm in size, (12-15 × 7-9 µm).
Marginal cystidia: elongate club-shaped to balloon-shaped, hyaline and thin-walled.