Spring fieldcap or Egghead mottlegill

Up to 8 cm across. Young caps are whitish or yellowish in the centre, turning ochre-brown or ochre-grey over time. The surface is smooth; the cap is convex at first, then opens out. Fleshy to the touch.

The cap is 2 to 6 cm across, sometimes up to 9 cm. It's egg-shaped when young, then like half an egg or a blunt cone, only rarely convex. The margin isn't lined; it overhangs the gills and sometimes carries scraps of veil.

It's whitish, cream or pale clay-coloured, darker in the centre, and fades with age. When wet it's sticky; when dry it's smooth and shiny, often wrinkled or cracked.

The gills are white in young mushrooms and gradually darken to brown: that's the spore colour showing through.

The gills are attached, crowded and broad. They start off whitish or greyish, become mottled with black patches and end up black, with whitish edges.

The spore print is black.

Cylindrical, up to 8 cm tall, white above and brown at the base. It has a narrow white ring, a key identification feature. No volva.

The stem is 6 to 15 cm tall and 3 to 10 mm thick, long and slender compared with the cap, whitish or cap-coloured, paler and finely powdery at the top, slightly swollen at the base, brittle and hollow.

Above the middle there's a thin white ring that turns black on top from spores. It's fragile and can fall off, so look for it on young specimens.

Thin, fleshy, without a strong colour change when cut. Pale in a fresh mushroom.

The flesh is thin, soft and whitish, pale yellowish and brittle in the stem, and doesn't change colour when cut.

Faintly mealy, like fresh flour.

The smell is indistinct.