Mushroom Identification (September 17, 2021)

This post will serve as a step by step document detailing how I arrived at the species identification of an unknown mushroom. I had no intention to eat this mushroom nor did I know its edibility in advance. These notes serve to help cement my own study of mycology of which I am in the very beginning stages.

I found this group of mushrooms growing from garden mulch while biking through the neighborhood. I took 1 sample back home to run some tests to try to identify its species.

Details from the collection site

But first I took note of some features of how and where it was growing.

In situ details:
*gregarious, but not cespitose (multiple fruiting bodies attached by fused or close-growing stipes)
*substrate it was growing from: soil/garden mulch
*nearby plants: planted shrubs, (oaks, honey locust trees farther away)
*time of year: late summer/fall
*odor: non-distinct mushroom smell
*feel of cap/stipe: dry

Testing at home

After a short bike, I arrived back home and performed additional tests:
*take note of any bruising discolorations on stem or cap: none
*attachment of gills? attached, adnate? colors of gills=grayish, darkened from spores?
*spore print - cut a quarter of the cap, placed under cup over a paper towel, let sit for a few hours. Print came back dark (purple/black)
*stem solid with annulus (partial veil)
*no scales on stem, fibrous
*cap- tan/brown, very little scaling, mostly flat, not slimy, cracking towards edge
*diameter of cap, height of stem (I didn't write these down)
*root of stem? some mycelium strands but no "foot" or "taproot" extending deep into the earth

Using these diagnostics, I searched my field guide. For gilled mushrooms, my guide is arranged by spore color, gill attachment, cap color, stem color, and size in a complex wheel grid. See below:

Using this guide (Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms of North America) I arrived at the Stropharia genus. Additional research on the website MushroomExpert.com (dichotomous key to Stropharioids) yielded my tentative species ID of:

Stropharia hardii

I did not taste this mushroom though that is another valid test (as long as one spits out the unknown mushroom and washes their mouth out with water). I would not recommend this for any suspected Amanita mushrooms.

Did I get the species identification correct? I welcome any notes, criticisms, or recommendations on this methodology to help my learning.