Mousseron - Marasmius oreades
- The Foraging Course Company
- Jun 2
- 3 min read
Edible mushroom - intermediate Season - mid-spring to autumn Common names Mousseron, fairy ring champignon, Scotch bonnet mushroom, fairy ring mushrooms
Scientific name meaning: The genus name comes from the Greek Marasmos meaning wasting and in reference to how the mushrooms dry out. Oreades is also from Greek, this time Oread meaning mountain and was used as a reference to nymphs living in mountains and woodland clearings
Habitat  The mousseron is a grassland mushroom and particularly likes cut or grazed grass. |
Overall structure and growth  Both a parasitic and saprobic fungus feeding on living grass and dead and decaying organic matter under the sward (top layer of soil under grass). It grows in rings or partial rings with fruit bodies often tightly packed. It often causes a ring of bare earth edged by longer lush grass. The fruit bodies dry up in warm weather and then rehydrate after rain. |
Cap  The smooth cap starts off convex before flattening out. It has a broad umbo (bump) in its centre. It has a buff colour when dry and appears a tan colour when wet. It is between 2 to 5cm in diameter. |
Gills and spores  The cream gills are fairly widely spaced but start off white when the mushroom is very young. They are usually free of the stem but can be slightly adenexed (very narrow attachment at the top of the stem). The spore colour is white. |
Stem  Quite tough, white or buff-coloured, and ringless, the stem is between 4 and 8cm long and 2 to 6mm wide. The base is usually darker in colour, downy and sometime swollen. |
Flesh, taste and smell  The flesh is white. The smell is mealy or sawdust-like. The taste is nutty and sweet due to the presence of a sugar called trehalose, which allows the fruit bodies to desiccate (dry up) and rehdyrate throughout the spring and summer. |
Possible lookalikes  Could be confused with seriously toxic deadly funnel (Clitocybe dealbata) or fool's funnel (Clitocybe rivulosa), pictured left of the image next to mousseron on the right, that both grow in rings in grassland. However, the gills of these mushrooms are decurrent (run down the stem), while the mousseron has free or adenexed gills. These two poisonous mushrooms lack an umbo. |
Use as food The mousseron is a sweet tasting mushroom due to the presence of the sugar trehalose. It has an excellent nutty flavour on its own but works very well with herbs like coriander, chives or wild garlic.
It brings a richness to cream sauces and works very well with eggs in omelettes or with scrambled eggs. It is one of the few fungi that can be eaten uncooked.
Its ability to desiccate and rehydrate so well means it is easy to dehydrate for storage and later use Hazards This mushroom can grow on roadside grass verges where it can accumulate traffic-related toxins. It is advisable to avoid harvesting from the sides of busy roads
Use in herbal medicine and medicine The anticancer properties of mousseron are currently being studied by various universities and academic institutions
If you are suffering from any ailment or need medical advice, please see your General Practitioner Other uses None known Importance to other species Provides food for a the larvae of a number of invertebrates
Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!
Comments