How to tell St George's mushroom from Livid pinkgill

Cap 6-20 cm across, hemispherical to convex in young mushrooms, spreading out with age, with a broad umbo in the center. Color pale gray, dirty white, ivory, with a yellowish or yellowish-livid tint — hence the name. The surface is smooth and silky-shiny, slippery in the rain and dry in dry weather. The cap skin is tough and does not peel.

The cap is 5-15 cm across (large, fleshy); when young it is hemispherical with an inrolled margin, with age becoming flat-convex, and in old specimens flat and spread out with a wavy margin. The skin is smooth, dry and matte in wet weather, with a fine felty fibrousness. Color: creamy white, ochre-cream, with a faint brownish tint at the center; in old specimens creamy ochre. The margin is even — inrolled when young, wavy and irregular when old.

Gills. The gills are fairly broad (up to 1 cm), notched where they meet the stem; in young mushrooms they are whitish-yellowish, with age they take on a characteristic pinkish, then salmon color. Spore print pinkish-brown — the key diagnostic feature of the whole genus Entoloma.

Lamellate hymenophore: the gills are notched (emarginate) at the stem, very crowded, thin, fleshy. Color: pure white to creamy white, with no pink or green tint — a diagnostic feature (it sets the mushroom apart from the poisonous Entoloma sinuatum, whose gills turn pink). Spore print white.

Stem 5-15 cm tall, 1-3 cm thick, cylindrical, thickened toward the base. Color whitish to dirty white. The surface is lengthwise-fibrous, with no ring. Flesh of the stem is firm, hollow in old mushrooms.

The stem is 3-7 cm tall, 1.5-3 cm thick — much shorter and thicker than the cap is wide (hence gambosa — "short-legged"). Cylindrical, thickening toward the base, firm, fleshy. Color: white to creamy white. Surface: smooth, with fine lengthwise fibers in the lower part. No ring.

Flesh is thick, meaty, white, does not change color when cut. The smell and taste of the fresh flesh are pleasant, mealy-cucumber — which makes this species all the more treacherous: it smells and tastes “right”, and nothing raises suspicion while you clean it.

The flesh is very firm, fleshy, pure white. It does not change color when cut. Smell: distinctly mealy, sharp and characteristic (like freshly milled flour or dough); taste sweetish and nutty, with no bitterness.

Mealy-cucumber — typical of many Entoloma. In old mushrooms it's sourish and unpleasant. The taste is mild and mealy. Do NOT rely on taste for identification — it tells you nothing about toxicity.

Distinctly mealy, like freshly milled flour or raw dough — a diagnostic feature, easy to notice on a cut surface.