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The Prince

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The Prince

Edible

Edible
Autumn

Autumn
Summer

Summer

A very tasty Agaric but it can accumulate cadmium so best picked from the wild away from urban spaces and busy roads.

Mushroom Type
Common Names The Prince (EN), Caws Cennog y Coed (CY), Pieczarka Okazała (PL), Óriás Csiperke (HU)
Scientific Name Agaricus augustus
Season Start Jul
Season End Nov
Average Mushroom height (CM) 10-16
Average Cap width (CM) 10-16 but can be found up to 25cm

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

Cap

Cap

Up to 25 cm. Spherical when young becoming convex. Covered in concentric chestnut brown scales on a white to pale yellow background. Can stain yellow on the edges where touched.


Gills

Gills

Crowded and free of the stem. Gills starting off white to pink, maturing to dark brown. 


Stem

Stem

10-16 cm long, 2-3.5 cm diameter. White to pale cream and smooth above the skirt and covered in small brown scales below.


Skirt

Skirt

A large superior, pendulous skirt.


Flesh

Flesh

White sometimes with a yellow tinge where cut or bruised.


Habitat

Habitat

Mixed woodland, particularly under conifers, lawns and roadsides, .


Possible Confusion

Possible Confusion

The Inky Mushroom (Agaricus moelleri), pictured, looks similar but the chemical, unpleasant smell of the flesh of this mushroom should keep you safe.
The Prince also looks a little like some of the Lepiotas but these always have white/off white gills not the pale pink to brown gills of the Agaric family.
The Freckled Dapperling (Echinoderma asperum) looks very similar but has ‘warts’ on the cap instead of  scales and has white gills unlike the Prince’s off white to pink to black gills.

Spore Print

Purple/chocolate brown. Ellipsoid.

Taste / Smell

Excellent. Mushroomy. The flesh smells of bitter almonds. Should be cooked before consumption.

Frequency

Uncommon.

Other Facts

One of our favourite mushrooms.

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COMMENTS

12 responses to “The Prince”

  1. Junko King avatar
    Junko King

    Hi I have found very similar agaricus prince.
    It’s beautiful and closed cup, but I did take a photo of old ones.

    Many thanks,

    Junko.

    Reply
  2. Carl avatar
    Carl

    We’ve lived in our house in South Wales for 8 years and we’ve never seen the Prince here before. Now suddenly, a group of 20cm examples have popped up. Will have one for lunch. Hope to see them again!

    Reply
  3. Mark avatar
    Mark

    I’m a beginner mushroom hunter. I know of a small conifer wood that has been producing the occasional Prince every week but so far I have only taken one textbook example. The reason I have left the others is the lack of skirt. On the one example I did take the large skirt was very delicate and was removed with the slightest of handling. The ones I left were otherwise identical to the one I took including an obvious almond oil smell. They did have shreds of the vale hanging from the outer edge of their cap.

    The lack of skirt on my “Prince” was not a one-off. Is it possible/likely to find examples of these mushrooms without a skirt?

    Reply
    1. Eric Biggane avatar
      Eric Biggane

      If the skirt has been damaged or eaten it may be missing but Princes always have a skirt.

      Reply
  4. Colin avatar
    Colin

    I’ve noticed in your pictures that some Prince mushrooms have gills and some to not. Why is this?

    Reply
    1. Eric Biggane avatar
      Eric Biggane

      When The Prince and several other mushrooms first emerge, the gills are covered by a veil that becomes the skirt as the mushroom grows larger.

      Reply
  5. Tom Lake avatar
    Tom Lake

    Great explainer- just found a large clump in out local park and had a suspicion they were edibles having pored over your guides in previous autumns and these matched every characteristic and images here in your guide. Thank you Wildfood UK for spreading the knowledge!

    Reply
  6. Craig avatar
    Craig

    Found some prince this morning, and they really do smell like marzipan when the cap is cut, had them on toast and were delicious

    Reply
  7. Paul Simonite avatar
    Paul Simonite

    There is a patch of Agaricus augustus not far from my house. I seem to be the only one in the area that knows about them so each year I enjoy a big mushroom feast. They never seem to be maggoty – is that normal, I wonder, or perhaps because I am in the north of scotland?

    Reply
  8. Mike H avatar
    Mike H

    I found a group of 4, what appears to be the Prince growing at the base of a Hawthorn hedge in my garden. They are quite mature and have grown to have a flat cap – 15 cms lightly mottled beige colour. Stem white quite thin 12 cm tapering to 20 cm at base – no skirt approx 13 cm long. The flesh remains white with slight pink when cut – smell pleasant mushroom. Gills free – pink on younger specs, changing to chocolate brown on older specs. Spores dark chocolate brown. I have cooked and eaten the 2 younger examples and they were quite delicious – no adverse effects.
    At the same location, last year were a group of excellent white Horse Mushrooms.
    Not sure whether my ID of the Prince is accurate – any ideas?

    Reply
    1. Mike H avatar
      Mike H

      Sorry stem width should read 12 mm at top, tapering to 20 mm at base.

      Reply
  9. Barry Lyons avatar
    Barry Lyons

    Hello from Ireland. I’m loving your YouTubery. I’m 43 and new to foraging mushrooms outside of field mushrooms, shaggy ink caps and a lifetime of Psilocybe semilanceata. Am I alone in finding these a little bit perfumey? It doesn’t stop me eating them as they’re fairly common around here.

    Reply

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