Cap color

Grey

Dark grey, leaden, asphalt or charcoal-ash are cool shades most often found in mushrooms in the second half of autumn. These colors help the fruiting body blend in with tree trunks, dark stones or frost-touched forest litter.

24 species in the database.

Dark grey species

According to M.Ya. Zerova and Roger Phillips, dark grey is most often associated with the genus Tricholoma (knights) and with mushrooms that grow on wood.

1. Grey knight (Tricholoma terreum): Known in folk speech as the "little mouse" or "earthy knight." It has a deep dark grey or graphite cap. Unlike the Charbonnier (which is slimy), the grey knight's cap is densely covered with small dark grey scales, which make it look fuzzy, like a mouse. It is considered a good edible mushroom.

2. Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus): Old, large specimens of wild oyster mushroom often turn a very dark, leaden grey, reminiscent of a dark metal plate.

3. Russula grisea (Russula grisea): Has a steely, violet-grey or dark grey cap.

Dangerous dark grey species

David Arora points out that dark grey gilled mushrooms need careful checking for smell and for color changes in the flesh:

1. Soapy knight (Tricholoma saponaceum): Its cap is often a dirty grey or dark grey. It looks very much like edible knights, but it gives itself away with a nasty smell of laundry soap and flesh that slowly turns pink when cut. It is inedible.

2. Some webcaps (Cortinarius): Can have very dark, violet-grey caps. If you see remnants of a rusty cobweb-like veil on the stem of a dark grey mushroom, leave it in the forest.

Questions and answers

Why do some mushrooms go from dark grey to coal-black?

Many grey-toned mushrooms are very sensitive to frost. When the first night frosts hit, the cells of the cap are destroyed, and a dark grey mushroom can turn into completely black "tar" or "jelly" overnight. Picking such thawed mushrooms is strictly forbidden, because protein breakdown has already begun in them.

Can a dark grey knight be confused with a death cap?

Although the death cap is more often greenish or pale yellow, its color is sometimes described as "greyish." But dark grey knights (like Tricholoma terreum) have no ring and no volva (a sac in the ground). If you are in doubt, always look for these two features on the stem.

Sources

1.Зерова М.Я. та ін. Визначник грибів України. 1979
2.Roger Phillips. Mushrooms (Roger Phillips)
3.David Arora. Mushrooms Demystified
4.Index Fungorum