Magpie inkcapCoprinopsis picacea

The magpie inkcap (Coprinopsis picacea), also known as the magpie fungus, is one of the most striking mushrooms of autumn woods. Once the cap opens, white woolly patches sit on a black-brown background, just like a magpie's plumage. It's tall and slender, with a bell-shaped cap up to 8 cm across and a white, hollow stem 10 to 20 cm tall, and like other inkcaps it finally dissolves into black ink. It isn't edible.

Is the magpie inkcap poisonous? Most field guides call it poisonous, and some mention stomach upsets. The German Mycological Society lists it among the inkcaps that can react with alcohol, like the common inkcap. Even so, no toxin has actually been identified in it, and we found no published poisoning case. That doesn't make it safe: it's uncommon and smells unpleasant, so few people ever try it. There's also no reliable evidence that it's psychedelic. If someone has eaten one, they should avoid alcohol for several days, up to five, and if they feel unwell, especially after a drink (flushing, a racing heart, nausea), call emergency services on 112 (999 in the UK) or your local poison centre. Keep a photo of the mushroom.

Magpie inkcap or shaggy inkcap? The two can only be confused when young, while the magpie's cap is still an egg wrapped in white veil. The key difference is the skin: a shaggy inkcap's cap is white all over with large, upturned scales, while on a magpie inkcap glossy dark brown to black skin shows through the cracks in the veil. Shaggy inkcaps mostly grow in grass, on lawns and verges, often in groups or lines, and the magpie inkcap in woodland leaf litter, alone or in twos and threes. But shaggy inkcaps also turn up in open woodland and the magpie occasionally in shady, damp grassland, so habitat is only a hint. Nor is the ring reliable: the shaggy inkcap's ring is loose and often lost. So pick shaggy inkcaps from grass, and leave any whitish inkcap you find in a wood. The common inkcap is grey with no white patches and grows in clusters by stumps, and the grey shag is smaller and grows on dung.

Is it rare? It's uncommon. It grows mainly in beech woods on chalk and limestone. It also grows in oak and hornbeam woods on rich soil, among fallen leaves or on buried wood. Look for it in autumn, especially in the middle of the season, with odd finds from summer into winter. Across Europe it's scattered, and it's regularly found in Ukraine too.

The name picacea comes from Pica pica, the magpie, while in German it's the woodpecker inkcap. Its smell is sometimes unpleasant, compared to tar, mothballs and carbolic, though some specimens hardly smell at all. It's also a sign of lime-rich soil.