Leucoagaricus melanotrichus

Small Leucoagaricus with a pileus rarely exceeding 3 cm in diameter. The cap is whitish, but almost entirely covered by bluish-grey to blackish-grey squamules, particularly dense at the umbo, which is completely covered by them.

The stipe, up to about 4 cm long, is greyish-white and provided with a fugacious ring whose margin is concolorous with the cap squamules.

An attractive species with striking colouration, typical of Mediterranean climates in thermophilous woodlands of Quercus or Pinus.

The specimens studied were collected in mid-November under Pinus pinaster on sandy ground in Villanueva de Gómez (Ávila).