Lepiota atrodisca

Pileus
Cap 1.5-4.0 cm broad, convex, expanding to nearly plane, the disc often slightly umbonate; margin at first incurved, then decurved, finally plane to upturned; surface dry, tomentose at the disc, dark-grey to blackish, cuticle cracking with expansion to form a covering of fine blackish scales, less dense toward the margin, revealing a pallid ground color; cuticle unchanging when bruised but sometimes developing yellowish-buff areas in age; context very thin, 1-2 mm thick, soft, white, unchanging; odor and taste mild.

Lamellae
Gills free, white, close, unchanging when bruised; lamellulae 1-2 seried; gill edges fringed (use hand lens).

Stipe
Stipe 2.0-8.5 cm long, 1-4 mm thick, slender, fragile, stuffed, becoming hollow, more or less equal; surface white, nearly glabrous at the apex, patchy fibrillose below, unchanging when bruised; veil membranous, thin, fragile, whitish, forming a flaring, superior ring, often with a greyish margin.

Spores
Spores 5.5-7.9 x 3.5-4.5 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, inequilateral, relatively thick-walled, slightly dextrinoid in Melzer's reagent; spore print white.

Habitat
Scattered in mixed hardwood-conifer woods; fruiting shortly after the fall rains.

Edibility
Unknown. Some small Lepiotas are deadly poisonous!

Comments
Small size, a cap with fine, grey-black scales, and a lack of color changes make this Lepiota one of the easiest members of the genus to recognize. It fruits early in the mushroom season often in the company of Lepiota rubrotincta and L. roseifolia.