Cap: 2-5.5 cm broad. Fawn-colored to reddish-brown, zonate from the outer edge of the cap with several bands of reddish-brown colors towards the center. Sometimes with a slight umbo. Hygrophanous, fading to a straw yellow to pallid in drying to a pallid dull white. Margin slightly incurved when young, often becoming pitted and wrinkled with age.

Gills:Adnate and slightly ventricose. Brownish to black with white edges.

Stem:4-10 cm x 2-7 mm. Reddish brown with vertical grooves running down the length of the stem. Hollow with short white fibrils. Sometimes bluing at base of the stem.

Spores:11.5-14 x 7.5-9.5m

Sporeprint:Jet black.

Habitat:On dung, rotted and/or composting hay. Also in lawns, pasturelands, riding stables and race tracks, in horse manure and stable shavings. Fruits in the early spring and late fall.

Distribution:Cosmopolitan: Oregon, Washington, Idaho, east coast of the United States, Great Britain, Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia Mexico, Central and South America and British Columbia, Canada.

Season:In the USA, February through May during the spring rains and from mid-August through September.

Dosage:2-5 large specimens or 20-30 small specimens. 3-5 grams dried and/or one ounce of fresh mushrooms.

Comment:Fruits abundantly in rotting haystacks in the Eugene-Corvalis region of Oregon and to a somewhat lesser degree in manure heaps throughout much of the world. To learn more about how to find and harvest this species read this paper on: