Garlic parachute
An elegant mushroom with a slender, dark stalk and a cap that looks like a fashionable Parisian parasol from the 20s, the garlic parachute smells intensely of its namesake allium.
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Where to Find It
The garlic parachute's preferred habitat is the beech forest, where it lives on and around fallen branches and tree stumps. Sometimes just one or two specimens will grow on their own, but more often you'll find several clustered together. They are easy to recognize by the straight, dark stems that raise them above the rest of the forest floor’s growth.
Deciduous forests, towns.
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When to Find It
Garlic parachutes are very common in fall.
Entire mushroom: September, October.
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How to Spot It
Garlic parachutes can grow up to 20 cm tall. Their lightly hairy stems only grow a couple of millimeters thick. Their stems are dark brown to black, with the darkest part closest to the base. The very young mushrooms are quite dark with nearly round caps. With age they get lighter and flatter, though older mushrooms retain a central bump from their more rounded. Light leather-brown gills grow under their caps, which are rarely more than seven cm in diameter.
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How to Pick It
Carefully pick garlic parachutes with your fingers and place the mushrooms in a sealed container so they retain their aroma.
Risk of misidentifying the plant
There is no risk of mistaking the plant for another dangerous or undesirable plant.
