Coprinopsis lagopus

[1] It is a delicate and short-lived fungus, the fruit bodies lasting only a few hours before dissolving into a black ink – a process called deliquescence.[2] The vague resemblance of the young fruit body to the paw of a white rabbit has earned this species the common name harefoot mushroom.In a series of experiments, Arthur Henry Reginald Buller grew spores on horse dung and noted a large range of size variation: the smallest specimen having a stem length of 1 mm and cap diameter of 0.75 mm, while the largest specimen had a stem length of 18.4 cm (7+1⁄4 in) and cap diameter of 2 cm.The cystidia found on the sides of the gills (pleurocystidia) are abundant in large fruit bodies, fewer in number in the smaller specimens.It has a widespread distribution throughout the world.The related species Coprinopsis lagopides (P. Karst) Redhead, Vilgalys & Montcalvo is similar in appearance, but more typically grows on a substrates like humus, or burnt or charred wood; it also tends to deliquesce more quickly and completely than C. lagopus.
Cap of a mature specimen with deliquescing gills
Hare's foot inkcap mushrooms
Detail of section through two gills of unexpanded fruit-body. s , short basidia; l , long basidia; p , paraphyses ; c , cystidium; i , interlamellar space
Mature specimens with margins curled upwards
Scientific classificationEukaryotaBasidiomycotaAgaricomycetesAgaricalesPsathyrellaceaeCoprinopsisBinomial nameSynonymsMycological characteristicshymeniumSpore printsaprotrophicunknownfungusphylogeneticfruit bodiesArthur Henry Reginald BullerglabrousSporesnonamyloidparaphysescystidiabasidiaP. Karstsesquiterpeneantibiotictotal synthesisList of Coprinopsis speciesScienceBibcodeUniversity of California PressLongmans, Green, and Co.WikidataAusFungiFloraBaseiNaturalistIndexFungorumMycoBankNatureServeOpen Tree of LifeSpeciesFungorum