egypt Mr

[Cyno]

Hey guys,

So I'm wondering if you can help me identify what are these mushrooms and if they are edible or not? I ate similar ones like these in Mongolia, the only difference was the head was grey and smoother, not white...

Would really appreciate your help..

[Dave W]

This mushroom represents a species of genus Agaricus. Identifying any mushroom to genus requires noting a combination of traits. In the case of this mushroom, the key features are the dark brown color of the gills and the "free attachment" of the gills. "Free attachment" is a bit of an oxymoron, as it means that the gills are NOT attached to the stalk. But, this trait can be elusive, as it is not uncommon for gills that are attached to the stalk to break away, which creates the illusion of truly free attachment. Note how the gills seen here are rounded a couple millimeters short of the stalk. If you take a "spore print" for this mushroom --lie the mushrooms gills down so that the spores collect on both white and black surfaces-- the color will be a rich shade of brown (not light brown). There are other types of mushrooms that may be mistaken for Agaricus. At least one type of dangerous Amanita has light brown gills that are free of the stalk and a white cap. Also, genus Agaricus is a pretty tricky one. 

As for edibility, some species of Agaricus are edible, but others cause sickness. Also, there are likely species of Agaricus that occur in Egypt that do  not occur in North America. So it would be irresponsible for me to identify this mushroom as edible/non-edible, as I do not know the exact species. In fact, even North American Agaricus mushrooms are difficult to ID to species. In most cases, the toxic ones have an unpleasant odor --chemical/phenol-- but this is not always the case. Also, at least some of the edible ones have a pleasant almondy odor.

Sorry I can't offer more help here. The best way to determine the edibility of a given mushroom is to find someone who knows the mushrooms that are typically found in a given area.