BioImages: The Virtual Field-Guide (UK)

Coprinus Pers., 1797 (inkcaps)

Notes (MWS)

The Inkcap toadstools are so-called because the black-spored gills, and often the caps too, liquify into an ink-like liquid. However, this has an ecological purpose: many of the species grow on transient substrates (eg dung) often with short-lived fruitbodies. The cap and gills liquify to rapidly dispose of the gill material and allow all the spores to be quickly released into the air. In the dung species the spores often have to survive on nearby grass until eaten by a herbivore. The spores are black because they are protected by thick heavily-pigmented walls.

2007 (Draft) Red Data List

VU/B

Records (and photo sets)

Taxon	Summary	Date	Vice-county	Country
Coprinus	Fruitbody	3 June 2000	Berks	England		1
Coprinus	Fruitbody	2 April 1983	Berks	England	8
Coprinus	Fruitbody	11 September 1982	South Hampshire	England	2
Coprinus	Fruitbody	24 May 1974	Mid-west Yorkshire	England	2
Coprinus?	Fruitbody	23 December 1971	East Sussex	England	3

Subtaxa

Rank	Taxon
Species	Coprinus bellulus Uljé, 1988 (an inkcap)				1
Species	Coprinus callinus M. Lange & A.H. Sm., 1953 (an inkcap)			1	1
Species	Coprinus cinnamomeotinctus P.D. Orton, 1988 (an inkcap)				1
Species	Coprinus comatus (O.F. Müll.) Pers., 1797 (Shaggy Inkcap, Lawyer’s Wig)	17		1	1
Species	Coprinus cordisporus Gibbs, 1908 (an inkcap)	7	3		1
Species	Coprinus cortinatus J.E. Lange, 1915 (an inkcap)				2
Species	Coprinus ephemeroides (Bull.) Fr., 1838 (an inkcap)	7			2
Species	Coprinus filiformis Berk. & Broome, 1861 (a fungus)			1
Species	Coprinus foetidellus P.D. Orton, 1972 (an inkcap)				1
Species	Coprinus griseofoetidus P.D. Orton, 1988 (an inkcap)				1
Species	Coprinus hiascens (Fr.) Quél., 1888 (an inkcap)				2
Species	Coprinus patouillardii Quél., 1883 (an inkcap)				4
Species	Coprinus poliomallus Romagn., 1945 (an inkcap)				2
Species	Coprinus radiatus (Bolton) Gray, 1821 (an inkcap)				2
Species	Coprinus saccharomyces P.D. Orton, 1960 (an inkcap)			1
Species	Coprinus silvaticus Peck, 1872 (an inkcap)				4
Species	Coprinus stellatus Buller, 1929 (an inkcap)				1
Species	Coprinus sterquilinus (Fr.) Fr., 1838 (an inkcap)				3
Species	Coprinus tuberosus Quél., 1878 (an inkcap)				3
Species	Coprinus xenobius P.D. Orton, 1976 (an inkcap)				1

Suggested Literature

Identification Works

	Chapter in…
Orton, P.D. & Watling, R., 1979	Coprinaceae: Coprinus
Orton, P.D., 1957	Notes on British Agarics I-5 (Observations on the genus Coprinus)
Orton, P.D., 1976	Notes on British Agarics VI
Orton, P.D., 1976	Notes on British Agarics VI
Orton, P.D., 1979	Notes on British Agarics IV
All about Inkcaps: http://www.homepages.hetnet.nl/~idakees	Web Site/Page