Fairy ring champignon or Petticoat mottlegill

The cap is 2-5 cm across, hemispherical when young, flattening out with age but keeping a distinct low umbo in the centre. The colour is light ochre, creamy beige or reddish cream, darker in wet weather and paler in dry. The surface is smooth, slightly sticky in wet weather, and the margin often has fine grooves. A unique trait: a dried-out cap can "revive" after rain, regaining its shape while the gills start releasing spores again.

The cap is 1.5 to 4 cm across, occasionally 5 cm. It starts egg-shaped or bluntly conical, then becomes bell-shaped and never flattens. It's grey-brown, pale brown or greyish, sometimes with reddish or olive tints and a darker centre. In dry weather it pales and often cracks.

Young caps have white triangular veil teeth hanging from the rim. They rub off easily, so older caps may have none.

The gills are distant, broad, whitish to cream, with a distinctive attachment to the stem (often free or notched). The spore print is white. Distant, broad gills plus a white spore print are key identification features.

The gills are attached and crowded, grey at first, then mottled grey and black as the spores ripen in patches, and finally black. The gill edges are white.

The spore print is black.

The stem is 4-8 cm tall and 0.2-0.5 cm thick, thin, cylindrical, very fibrous and springy — it practically doesn't snap when bent. Its colour is light cream to ochre, matching the cap. The surface is smooth, with no ring and no volva. It doesn't snap, it only bends, and that's a key identification feature.

The stem is 5 to 12 cm tall and 2 to 4 mm thick, long and slender for the cap, the colour of the cap or paler, finely powdered at the top and darkening towards the base. It's hollow and brittle, with no ring.

The flesh is thin in the cap and fibrous in the stem, white to cream, and does not change colour when cut. It has a distinct, pleasant mushroom smell with a fruity or almond note and a mild, aromatic taste.

The flesh is thin and pale.

The smell is distinct and pleasant, with a fruity-almond note. It comes out when you rub the flesh, and especially when the mushroom is dried. It's one of the most aromatic mushrooms in Europe.

The smell isn't distinctive.