Chlorophyllum brunneum
A species which is frequently encountered, particularly around chicken coups is Chlorophyllum brunneum, pictured above. (You may see this same picture in a book, used without permission and mis-labelled) This is distinguished by the basal bulb which is described as ‘abrupt’, which means that there is usually a definite change in geometry at the top of the bulb and it often has quite a flat top. They often cluster together from a common large basal bulb as shown below.
It also has a surface that is broken up into scales that have a fibrous appearance. When cut it turns red.
Personally I find Chlorophyllum brunneum to be a very tasty mushroom with a strong meaty smell and flavour. But apparently it does not agree with some people so caution is wise. There is some reason to believe that bad reactions can be avoided by making sure that the mushroom is well-cooked It is possible that this mushroom contains a toxin similar to Chlorophyllum molybdites but of lower amount or strength. Since this is a protein toxin with a known molecular weight it should be possible to determine this by electorphoresis.
Although this mushroom is similar to Chlorophyllum rachodes, we are advised by mycologist Else Vellinga that that species does not occur in Australia. Here is a link to Vellinga’s paper.
Below are another couple of images of Chlorophyllum brunneum. The first shows a young fresh specimen and the other shows a close-up of the gap between the gills and the stem where a green ring can be seen.
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I post and record this experience here so others won’t make the fatal mistake I did but also to potentially kill off some of my mushroom ego if you like
So as some of you may know I escaped the mainland last week on the last flight into tassie to go bushwalking with my wife who is not my wife who I would like to be my wife and step daughter etc both to Bush walk but secretly to hunt down in my opinion what I have heard to be the worlds greatest tasting mushrooms – and later I will post other things about various finds and it was really tongue to ground amazing but the story I am about to share was not so amazing well actually it was kind of amazing – you can see from the above grammar is not my strong point
So I picked some C brunneum (pictured) before the 7 day hike – and they were growing on mass like most mushrooms in Tasmania do – and on day one of the hike I got lost and a 7 hour walking day turning into an 11 hour walking day so when I arrived to camp I got out a bottle of wine and the Brunneys – Now I have eaten these mushrooms on three previous occasions and they are marvellous – so I told the rest of the camp the stories of hunting them down and cooked up a batch on high heat in the pan and surprisingly everyone except one fellow took my word for it and ate them – I was surprised as most people I find not so open to new mushrooms – but my banter must have been right on point cause everyone agreed a great tasting mushroom – and at this point I was the mushroom king
But this is where the story takes a twist
My wife who is not my wife but I would like to be wife offered to cook the next batch as I was tired and dead from walking and getting lost and mentioned something like I will cook these with less oil and low heat to save on gas etc and by this time I was tipsy and ranting about black trumpets and finding the lost porcini of Tasmania etc that I didn’t give it a second thought and a very large plate of mushrooms shortly arrived in front of me warm and a little on the raw side which I devoured very quickly with waving arms and dancing.
Fast forward a few hours later in my sleeping bag and I turn to my wife who you know isn’t my wife and she has ear plugs in and i say I feel sick and she says you always say that after eating mushrooms etc.
I just make it out the door and I am projectile vomiting all over the forest and everybody can hear the mushroom king – and this vomiting goes on and off for the next hour and it’s minus 3 outside and my wife is yelling at me also and nothing is subtle here – maybe no one can hear me I think – after cleaning up and hiding all the spew and evidence I think maybe no one will catch on And I make it back to bed.
After an hour or so there are indescribable sounds coming from my belly – and I should probably wind it up here but I really want to crush a good part of my mushroom ego here so I will continue – I find myself in thermal onesie which happens to be inside out
And I am listening to the sound in my belly going wow that sounds very impressive and then I think I need to get out of here quick
I make it to a tree and can’t find the zip as it not on the outside and what unfolds now is many folds and it’s too late to stop it and it’s coming out my ankles
The rest of the details and screams and tears into the frozen night is not that important here the clean up in frozen river etc
Over the next 6 days I found amazing edible mushrooms but I was now on a ban – my wife who is not my wife who I want to marry who won’t currently marry me has banned me from eating mushrooms and I had lost my title of the mushroom king – but over the next days I would find fields of giant laccaria and 10s of thousands of golden chanterelles and wild enoki and fist sized hedgehogs and I was banned
And no one believed anything I said at the camp – I was reduced to nothing and a laughing stock – but secretly I was happy to have lived through it cause you need some setbacks to clarify where you are headed in life don’t you think ?
The ban was lifted when on the 7th day the chants appeared thank the lord – and I am alive to tell the tale – I remember shouting into the night my kidneys are going to explode get a helicopter here now to Rosie my wife who is not
So what to take from all this –
Peter Donecker will probably be able to tell me what chemical I ingested in the brunneum and the importance of making sure chlorophyllum is well and truly cooked at a high heat etc before sticking them down the throat
The good news is I am alive
And have been eating many mushrooms and have been taken down a fair few pegs
But haven’t eaten Brunneum again
But I will be in Melb on Tuesday so hoping to find some.
The spores of Chlorophyllum brunneum are approximately 10.1 x 6.5 microns. In the image below they are shown at 1000x magnification under oil with lactophenol blue stain.
Chlorophyllum molybdites
Another member of the genus, Chlorophyllum molybdites (below) has a very similar appearance, but the scales do not have the fibrous nature of C. brunneum. The gills start out white then gradually turn green. This green colour becomes much more pronounced as the specimens age and eventually the gills become very dark grey-green. It also has a green spore print when mature.
The spores have a green colour that can be seen from a spore print.
It is sometimes claimed that this mushroom does not stain red, but this picture shows that it does indeed give a red stain when cut in two. Not quite as vivid as Chlorophyllum hortense but undoubtedly red.
The lower half of the stem on this mushroom has dark shading. This can vary a little in intensity. The annulus has two edges. These features are seen on the next image.
Sometimes the scales are almost absent as in this specimen from a verge in suburban Perth where it is sometimes particularly prevalent in periods of high temperatures and wet conditions.
It is not a deadly mushroom, but it may make you very sick and is a common cause of mushroom poisoning in North America. The nature of the poison in this mushroom was a mystery for a long time, particularly since it doesn’t affect all people at all times. It was revealed in 2012 to be a protein called molybdophyllysin by Yamada et al. It is heat labile, beginning to break down at 70 degrees, which may explain why some people, including the Cribbs report having eaten C. molybdites without ill effect.
The effect of temperature on the toxin in Chlorophyllum molybdites is shown in this graph from the above mentioned paper which plots activity against temperature for a 10 minute hold time. It might be anticipated that prolonged boiling might considerably reduce toxicity. There is similar information on the heat lability of this mushroom in a 1974 paper by Eilers and Nelson where it is referred to by an earlier name, Lepiota morganii. They report extraction of the toxin with different solvents, water being the most effective. One of these days I will take this data and try to concoct an equation for the reaction kinetics. They also mention that the toxin occurs in both young and mature specimens and in all parts of the fruiting body. This snippet of information eliminates a hypothesis that the toxicity is related to the stage of development of the mushroom.
Molybdophyllysin is a zinc metalloprotease. There are many of this type of enzyme in the biosphere, some toxic and some not. For example, Grifola frondosa, the famed ‘Maitake’ mushroom contains an enzyme of this class. It has found application as a tool for protein analysis as it cleaves proteins in a very specific way. On the other hand the toxin from Clostridium botulinum, the toxin that causes botulism is one of the most potent toxins known. Many studies have been done on the thermal stability of botulinum toxin and it is interesting that the recommended cooking time is a minimum of 5 minutes at 85 degrees centigrade. It would appear that the degradation of molybdophyllysin (MP) may follow very similar kinetics. One difference however is that MP is more susceptible to acidic conditions.
As a footnote, there is a report of the effects of eating this mushroom in the Medical Journal of Australia, by local academic Lindsay Mollison. I note that his report is in December 2011 and that he speaks of doing an extensive internet search to find out what he had eaten. Perhaps his experience was just prior to when I made this original post in July 2011. A shame. The first publication scientific publication describing this mushroom from Perth was written by mycologist Neale Bougher in
Although Chlorophyllum molybdites is considered poisonous in most places, there are reports of it being eaten in various places, particularly in Benin, in Africa. If you don’t know where that is, I have included a map below.
Here is a quote from a long treatise on the edible mushrooms of this country.
“In the area where we worked, there is no information on cases of poisoning caused by ukulé malu, nan bisu or bela-dedji. Benin is apparently only occupied by an edible form or with a low toxicity rate. It is also found that Chlorophyllum aff. molybdites is known and appreciated by the Peuhls, an important ethnic group that crosses the entire Sudano-Guinean region of West Africa. Finally, we point out that in Benin, mushrooms, with a few rare exceptions, are always eaten after preparation, that is to say after warm and relatively long heating. If the Chlorophyllum from Benin contained a labile toxin (thermolabile), it would be systematically destroyed by cooking or by blanching. It is clear that further toxicity and taxonomic studies will be needed to clarify and understand the toxicity of Chlorophyllum. For this reason we identify all our collections provisionally as Chlorophyllum aff. molybdites.
from: (PDF) Guide to edible mushrooms in Benin. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328043576_Guide_des_champignons_comestibles_du_Benin [accessed Mar 08 2021].
It is possible that the species from Benin is in fact the closely related Chlorophyllum paleotropicum which also features green-grey spores.
Le Loup said,
July 24, 2011 @ 4:46 am
Good post. Totally agree.
Keith.
Glenda said,
December 14, 2012 @ 1:47 am
Hi Morrie, As I have said before, I love your site. I just picked a whole bowl of those guys with the green gills. Off to the bin they go!!
Jonathan said,
June 21, 2014 @ 7:50 am
Well, I guess this exchange is a bit old so may not be read. But this autumn I have been picking kilos of the Shaggy parasol growing in Parkville (VIC) on woodchips, drying most for later but having some fried in butter. Nice. Greenish shades can even appear, say at the junction of stem and gills, but the key is the reddish-brown bruising. Hard to know whether association with ill effects are due to confusion with molybdites or not…but certainly there is enough association of ill effects with Shaggy parasols especially when eaten raw and/or to “go in slowly”. Certainly it seems that most people have no ill effects when well cooked.
morrie2 said,
June 21, 2014 @ 8:27 am
Thanks Jonathan. I have been meaning to update this post. The specimen in the image above is most likely C. brunneum rather than rochodes. You can see that from the distinct flat region on the top of the bulb. C. rachodes has a more gradual transition into the bulb. A lady who has a lot of these sent me some samples recently.
Although the proportion of people who react to these seems small, I have read that it is extremely unpleasant.
Jonathan said,
July 30, 2014 @ 11:58 am
Hi Morrie2.
Update on edibility. I have collected several kilograms of L. rhacodes and tried them both cooked normally and after drying, incorporated into a delicious risotto al fungi.
HOWEVER, I have to report that eating anything but a small portion, even after extensive cooking there is a definite slight unpleasant stomach feeling. I am known for a cast-iron stomach so in others I can imagine the response could be a lot worse..
In short, a little chastened, I too advise against eating this mushroom in any form. Many years ago I was once nauseous when I had a large breakfast of these in Tasmania, but I put it down to too much butter in the cooking. But it was the mushrooms.
morrie2 said,
August 14, 2014 @ 1:13 pm
Thanks again Jonathan.
Sunny Ape said,
April 22, 2017 @ 10:15 pm
Just taken the plunge and eaten a Brunneum yesterday. Fried well in butter, it turn a beautiful golden brown, had a firm texture and a pleasant taste. No ill affects, but it was only a single one about 8cm diameter.
morrie2 said,
April 26, 2017 @ 12:01 pm
Good to hear that you had no ill effects.