''Mycetinis alliaceus'' ( syn. ''Marasmius alliaceus''), commonly known as the garlic parachute, is one of the larger

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

s formerly in the genus '' Marasmius'', having a beige

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

of up to 4 cm and a long tough slender stipe. It emanates a strong smell of

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

, and this is the significance of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

species name, ''alliaceus''. It is distributed throughout Europe, being fairly common in some areas and quite rare in others.

Description

The species can be described as follows: *The cap is beige, ochre or flesh-coloured and is 2–4 cm in diameter, sometimes wrinkled, somewhat domed in the middle. *The gills are whitish and narrowly attached to the stem. *The spore powder is white. *The tough dark-coloured stem can be 15 cm tall but is only up to 3 mm in diameter. *The stem is velvety (

pruinose Pruinescence , or pruinosity, is a "frosted" or dusty-looking coating on top of a surface. It may also be called a pruina (plural: ''pruinae''), from the Latin word for hoarfrost. The adjectival form is pruinose . Entomology In insects, a "bloom" ...

) and black below, though it may be brown near the top. The strong taste and smell of garlic is a product of the separation of γ-glutamyl-marismin. This mushroom is found in European woods (especially

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

woods) from early summer to autumn, growing on fallen leaves and rotting wood.

Related species and naming

This species was originally documented by Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin in 1773 and subsequently it was long known as ''Marasmius alliaceus'', a designation established by

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. He is sometimes called the Mycology, "Linnaeus of Mycology". In his works he described and assigned botanical names to hundreds of fungus and li ...

. It gave its name to the section ''Alliacei'' of genus ''Marasmius'' until following a 2005 paper it was decided to separate this group off into genus '' Mycetinis'' (see that page for more details). The most likely species to be confused is the fairly common '' Mycetinis scorodonius'', which is distinguished by a bare shiny red-brown stem. '' Mycetinis querceus'' (once wrongly identified with: ''M. prasiosmus'') has a velvety stem like ''M. alliaceus'', but the colour is purple-brown. Related garlic-smelling species also occur in America; examples are '' Marasmius perlongispermus'' and '' Mycetinis copelandii''.

Edibility

The cap of ''M. alliaceus'' is edible, but of limited culinary value due to its meagre flesh. It can be added to dishes to give a garlic flavour, which could be useful for people who are allergic to real garlic.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q42184 alliaceus Fungi of Europe Edible fungi Taxa named by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin Fungus species