Salty mushroom or White dapperling

The cap is 6–15 cm across and very fleshy. Young caps are hemispherical, then convex and flattened, and the margin stays inrolled for a long time.

The skin is white, cream or greyish, dry and smooth at first, often with brownish spots. With age it cracks into coarse brownish scales and furrows, so the cap looks like cracked earth. Mushrooms often come up already dirty, with sand or soil on the cap.

The cap is 4-10 cm across, hemispherical to convex when young, later flattening out with a small bump in the centre. It's white to cream, sometimes with pale ochre or cream scales in the centre, and smooth and silky white when young. The cap skin is finely fibrous or covered with small, flattened scales. The margin is thin and inrolled when young.

The gills are free, meaning they don't reach the stem, and very crowded. In young mushrooms they are greyish pink or pink, then reddish brown, and chocolate in mature ones. They are never white in a mature Agaricus.

The spore print is chocolate brown. A white print means it isn't an Agaricus.

The gills are crowded, thin and free (not attached to the stem). They're white to cream in young mushrooms and turn creamy pinkish with age (hence the Ukrainian name, which means "red-gilled"). The spore print is white to pale pink, an important diagnostic feature (in Agaricus it's blackish brown).

The stem is 4–10 cm tall and 2–4 cm thick, white, firm and solid. It's usually shorter than the cap is wide, which makes the mushroom look squat.

There is a single narrow, sleeve-like ring with an upturned edge; in young mushrooms it is thick and rubbery. There is no sac (volva) at the base. The base often sits deep in the soil, so dig the mushroom up whole to check it.

The stem is 5-10 cm tall and 0.7-1.5 cm thick, cylindrical, slightly thickened toward the base, white to cream and smooth. It has a simple membranous ring that's distinct in young mushrooms and may disappear with age.

The flesh is thick, firm and white. When cut or pressed it reddens, turning orange-red or reddish brown, sometimes vividly, sometimes slowly and only faintly. It never turns yellow. The taste is mild, slightly salty according to some.

The flesh is medium-thick and white, with a barely noticeable pink tint at the base of the stem. It doesn't change colour when cut.

Descriptions of the smell vary: briny, fishy, unpleasant, and some authors also notice a hint of aniseed. That is where its German and French names meaning smelly mushroom come from. Treat the smell as a hint only: the reddening flesh, the pink to chocolate gills and the single ring decide. A strong smell of ink or carbolic points to the poisonous yellow stainer.

Faint and neutral, with no distinct notes. Don't taste it — its safety status is undetermined.