Shaggy ink cap or Grey shag

The cap is at first elongated and egg-shaped, 5-15 cm tall and 3-5 cm wide. With age it opens into a bell shape, then spreads out. Color white, with a cream or yellowish center, covered in distinctive upturned scales — soft and fluffy. In old fruit bodies the gill edges turn pink, then black. In the end the mushroom dissolves into a black liquid (autodigestion).

The cap of the grey shag is small — from 1 to 5 centimeters tall, at first egg-shaped-oval or bell-shaped; with age it opens out and dissolves into inky liquid at the margin. The surface is gray, ash-gray, often covered with small whitish scales or a mealy coating — remnants of the veil. When young the cap is paler; as it matures it grays and blackens from the edges. The whole cap is thin and pleated-striate.

Gilled hymenophore. Gills very crowded, thin, free (not touching the stem). The color changes with age: young ones are white, then turning pink, then black as the spores mature. Spore print black.

The hymenophore is gilled. The gills are free and very crowded, whitish at first, then quickly blacken and dissolve together with the cap margin into inky liquid (autolysis). The spore print is black. Rapid self-digestion of the gills into ink is a characteristic feature of all ink caps.

Stem 8-20 cm tall, 0.5-2 cm thick, cylindrical, slender, white, hollow inside. It has a movable ring in the middle or lower part — a characteristic feature. Surface smooth or finely downy.

The stem is thin, hollow, white or whitish gray, up to 10 centimeters tall, smooth, often with a slightly thickened base. There is usually no ring, or only a trace of the veil remains. There is no volva. The stem is fragile and thin, typical of small ink caps.

The flesh is white, soft and tender in young specimens. In old ones it quickly blackens and dissolves (autodigestion). When a young one is cut, the color doesn't change.

The flesh is extremely thin, grayish or whitish, with no particular taste. Because of rapid autolysis it does not last long: within a few hours of maturity the fruiting body dissolves. That is why only very young, unopened specimens are fit to eat, and even those have almost no culinary value.

Faint, pleasant mushroomy smell. The taste is tender and delicate — young specimens are reminiscent of a soft omelet.

The smell is faint and nondescript, mushroomy or slightly musty. The scent is not a defining feature; the mushroom is recognized by its gray, pleated cap that dissolves into ink, its black gills and its growth on dung, compost and fertilized soil.