Home / Mushroom Guide /

Field Mushroom

(99 votes, average: 3.73 out of 5)

Loading…

Field Mushroom

Edible

Autumn

Spring

Summer

View Full Size Image

The Field Mushroom, Agaricus campestris.

This used to be a very common mushroom but is becoming harder to find due to loss of habitat and the chemical sprays used nowadays.

Mushroom Type
Common Names	Field Mushroom (EN), Meadow Mushroom, Madarch y Maes (CY), Pieczarka Łąkowa (PL), Mezei Csiperke (HU)
Scientific Name	Agaricus campestris
Season Start	May
Season End	Nov
Average Mushroom height (CM)	5-7
Average Cap width (CM)	5-8

Watch our videos on YouTube

Please note that each and every mushroom you come across may vary in appearance to these photos.

Cap

5-8 cm. White, sometimes discoloured grey/brown, can be scaley or smooth. Starting spherical and opening out flat. Can bruise slightly pink. The cuticle often hangs down over the edge of the cap and is a good indicator of a Field Mushroom.

Gills

Crowded and free from the stem. The gills start deep pink and soon turn to dark brown with maturity.

Stem

5-7 cm long, 1-2 cm diameter. White and smooth above the ring, slightly scaly below, tapering at the base. The ring is delicate and only traces of it can usually be found.

Skirt

Superior to intermediate. Small, slight and not very long lasting.

Flesh

White, bruising slightly pink.

Habitat

Pasture, meadows, lawns, road verges and parks.

Possible Confusion

The toxic Yellow Stainer (Agaricus xanthodermus), but this mushroom stains chrome yellow when bruised or cut and smells of Indian ink, hospitals or iodine.

Spore Print

Chocolate brown. Ovoid. You should scrape your spores into a small pile to get an accurate spore colour.

Taste / Smell

Mushroomy. Should be cooked before consumption.

Frequency

Occasional but widespread, might be locally common, however becoming less so in fields that are sprayed with chemicals.

Other Facts

In March 2025 the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) added 1000 fungal species to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The IUCN (Global) Conservation Status of Field Mushroom (Agaricus campestris) is: LC – Least Concern, with stable population. For more information, see on the following link

Back to mushroom guide

40 responses to “Field Mushroom”

kerry weaver-martin

October 2, 2018

Very helpful video! These are the only mushrooms I pick as I’m sure what they are and they taste so good. Just picked a lovely crop from my local cow fields….drizzle, warm wind and lots of cow poo have made them very abundant lately. Putting them in a puff pastry tart later, mm!

North Wales.

Peter littleton

October 28, 2018

Looked at many of your vids which have helped me i.d mushrooms.thnk you.love to attend a course

soo

November 26, 2018

Thank you for the video, I am convinced now the field mushroom I picked this morning is edible.

Julie

June 24, 2019

Thank you, the advice to scratch the cap to see if it turns yellow has probably saved us a trip to A&E today!

Dean Russell Spencer

August 21, 2019

Hi I’m in birstall Leicestershire by the watermead lakes..I often pick and eat mushrooms….I came across a patch of various size mushrooms at side of lake grass…firm white…some as large as sausers other variations in sizes..they do look edible but can’t workout what they are ?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  September 4, 2019
  
  Hi Dean, you can send photos of the cap, the gills and the stem along with where they were growing and any smells to [email protected] and we’ll try to ID them for you. Please send IDs of one mushroom at a time.
  
Howard Godolphin

September 28, 2019

Hi, thank you. Helped me identify the Prince. Have found a small number on a cliff top in Cornwall.

philip

October 13, 2019

we have in cornwall on one of our fields , no chemicals used meadow field cut short lots of field mushrooms following your vid and pics , they dont stain but when we cooked some small droplets of red come from the gills???? so didnt eat them . or is this normal p.s love the site

1. Eric Biggane
  
  December 18, 2019
  
  Hi Philip, it isn’t unusual to get little red drops from the gills when cooking Field Mushrooms. If they were toxic Agarics they would turn yellow in the pan and stink out your kitchen with a horrible inky, chemical like smell.
  
Anne

October 29, 2019

Was going to eat what I believed to be a field mushroom, double checked here and with a scratch on the cap, saved myself a dreadful time when it turned yellow. The smell reminded me of marzipan.

Haidee

April 23, 2020

Hi from Lil Ol New Zealand. On lock down so now making ciabatta and mushrooms sauce from fresh picked field mushrooms, that I now know are safe. Thanks for the great video and pictures on how to ID edibles.

Steven Schofield

June 16, 2020

Picked,cooked, and ate some lovely Field Mushrooms today, I have never known them appear this early.

Jeff

July 4, 2020

Lots of mushrooms have grown in a field at the back of our new house this week I think they are field mushrooms
As they look like the ones in the video and smell like shop bought mushrooms
I will try to get a photo of them

Osman

September 1, 2020

I have picked one in my back garden in West London. Plenty of different mushrooms and fungi throughout the year. Cooked in white wine, stock garlic and finished with Parmesan. Easy to cook yet splendid in flavour.

David

September 4, 2020

Great website, I have lots of mushrooms growing in the fields where I live lots are dying off but still lots to pick, I believe that they are Field mushrooms but would like a second opinion, have emailed you some pictures

Fred Heighton

September 4, 2020

Informative, and very clearly ennunciated. Thank you.

Hill

September 14, 2020

Picked lovely looking mushrooms in garden today. Sadly although the cap smelt fine when cut white colour of base of stem quickly turned yellow and this part smelt like elastoplast – so did not eat them. Too close a description to yellow-staining mushroom.

Barbara Robinson

October 9, 2020

Fine crop this year on uncultivated Higher Stewardship”set aside” land despite the local spraying nonsense nearby. Have picked 4 lbs.

Jim

October 21, 2020

You folks are gems to the world! Thank you!

Paul Young

October 22, 2020

Anybody know of decent Field Mushroom locations near my home base in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire ? Really struggling at the moment !

Simon Westmacott

November 1, 2020

I’m fairly sure I have picked horse or field mushrooms having watched the videos: slight yellow bleeding on one but nothing on the other. On the other hand almost no smell at all and my sense of smell is quite good. Other characteristics all tick the box: gill colour, stem, cap 13cm diameter, no ‘pot’ at the stem base. There is just a hint of mushroom smell from a broken stem. With regret, I’m not going to take the risk despite previously having come to no harm from mushrooms in the same field.

Stelios

August 12, 2021

Today I picked my first of Field Mushrooms and they definitely go in the pan.

Dave..

September 12, 2021

The first mushroom I have ever picked… I have been wanting to pick and eat a wild mushroom for years,, I spoted this one in ilkley park while walking my dog, it was quite big I picked it and took it home, still unsure as to eat it or not… I looked on this site and onece I was sure [well as sure as i could be] I cleaned it and cooked a small part to try it….. It tasted like a mushroom so I cooked the rest and it wnt down well…….. This has got my interest in wild mushrooms greater than it was and now looking forward to finding and trying more……..You web site is a great help to me??. Thanks Dave,, west yorkshire..

Kate

October 21, 2021

We’ve just picked 2kg local to us! Absolutely amazed at the abundance available.

Niki

September 12, 2022

can I pick fields mushrooms on the fields that dogs are walking?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  September 12, 2022
  
  They should be fine, just avoid mushrooms that are close to tree trunks, fences or fence posts.
  
Eugene

September 15, 2022

I have some mushrooms in my field. Identical in all the characteristics you described — 2.5″ to 3″ cap, pink gills, slight ‘curtain’, a little skirt. To be sure I left it indoors for a day for the gills to turn brown-black which it did and the spore print is black. However, the cap has acquired a *very slight* hint of light yellow in places — almost imperceptible, and the stem when cut across has a faint pastel yellow tinge. Scratching the cap does not give any clear yellow streaks. Smell is fairly neutral — not ‘chemical’, but not strongly ‘mushroomy’ either. So, is this likely to be a field mushroom or a poisonous ‘Yellow Stainer’? My key question really is: Can an edible field mushroom acquire hints of yellow staining when it ages?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  September 15, 2022
  
  Some Agarics can have slightly yellow markings when drying, this is not a problem, the Yellow Stainer bruises bright chrome yellow, but this will fade after 10+ minutes. You are looking for an almost instant colour change with the Yellow Stainer so if your Field Mushrooms didn’t stain bright yellow instantly and they don’t smell of chemicals, you are safe.
  
sallynewman12

September 16, 2022

How do you distinguish these from Agaricus crocodilinus?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  September 17, 2022
  
  A. crocodilinus is a larger, more robust mushroom and the stem tapers towards both the base and the cap with a larger middle.
  
DAVID WALLEY

September 28, 2022

Hi, I just wanted to say how useful this site is.
I’m 76 and have been picking and eating field mushrooms since I was a child. This year we’ve had a bumper crop from our field in Anglesey which has never been sprayed or treated and is cut for hay every year. I’m guessing the weather has had something to do with it. It certainly is the best crop I can remember with several of the mushrooms approaching 20cms in diameter.
I’m looking forward to a field mushroom supper – the first this year!

James

October 5, 2022

Picked a few of these in the park after work in Great Torrington…. now I have my little personal patch until some other eagle eyed fungster spots them

John

October 11, 2022

Do you have any insights into whether you should avoid picking these mushrooms by busy roadsides? I’m thinking in relation to soil contamination due to traffic pollution. I know some mushrooms uptake heavy metals more readily than others, chanterelles being some of the worst. Thanks for all the work you do; you’ve been a valuable resource throughout my foraging endeavours.

1. Eric Biggane
  
  October 11, 2022
  
  We have YouTube video all about this subject. The tests were done on Field Mushrooms and soil at various distances from different locations around Hereford.
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTVQvpBAH_0“
  
Charlotte

October 28, 2022

I picked a huge batch of these on the grass courts at my tennis club this morning. They were also there last week but I was nervous about eating them till I heard my coach had been picking and eating them! They smell the same as shop ones though are clearly fresher hence the gills still pink. It has been too wet for the groundsmen to mow the grass courts plus we don’t play on them this late in the year so they’ve been left awhile. Some grew in quite large fairy circles presumably meaning they’ve been established a while.

Charlotte

October 29, 2022

it says here that they should be cooked before eating…how come? I often put thinly sliced shop-bought field mushrooms raw into salads.

1. Eric Biggane
  
  October 31, 2022
  
  We recommend cooking all wild mushrooms as they have not been grown in sterile conditions, also, many edible mushrooms need to be cooked before consumption as this destroys any harmful toxins. Agaricus bisporus or shop bought mushrooms contain toxins that are cooked out, but these are in trace amounts and will not cause problems if consumed raw.
  
David Dooling

October 3, 2023

so, I found what I believe may be field mushrooms. They have the pink gills, but have a very mottled looking cap orangey brown markings like a pancake color. They have no strong smell but look edible. I’m not eating them til I’m sure they’re safe though. The stem has a good amount of the underside of the cap clinging to it. Any chance I’m dining on this anytime soon?

1. Eric Biggane
  
  October 4, 2023
  
  Without identifying the mushroom accurately I would not eat them. Without seeing them, I can’t determine what they are from a description but you can send photos to [email protected]. Please include photos of the cap, stem, gills and where they are growing.
  
Kay

July 24, 2024

Thank you so much for the information. Found these in part of my lawn where I let my dogs out. Lets me know that there are no dangerous chemicals in my yard!