Clitocybe nebularis

Pileus
Cap 5-25 cm broad; convex with an incurved margin, becoming plane to depressed; color greyish to light brownish grey; surface dry to moist, radially fibrillose; flesh thick, white; odor unpleasant, slightly farinaceous to rancid or skunky.

Lamellae
Gills close, adnate to decurrent, white to cream colored.

Stipe
Stipe 5-15 cm long, 1.5-4 cm thick at apex, base enlarged to bulbous, usually with abundant whitish tomentum; color white, sometimes with light grey brown fibrils.

Spores
Spores 5.5-8.5 x 3.5-4.5 µm, smooth, ellipsoid, nonamyloid; spore wall cyanophilous. Spore print pale yellow.

Habitat
Solitary to scattered to gregarious under both conifers and hardwoods. Seldom fruits before December.

Edibility
Often listed as edible, but the foul odor would deter most persons from trying it.

Comments
This large, cold weather mushroom is easily identified by its obnoxious aroma, often compared to the odor of a rodent cage. For those lacking the ability to smell, Clitocybe nebularis could be confused with Leucopaxillus albissimus, but it is greyer, more readily putrescent, and has yellowish rather than white spores.