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Burgundy wine cap mushrooms growing from wood chips
Edibleintermediate

Wine Cap

Stropharia rugosoannulata / King stropharia; garden giant

A large burgundy mushroom of wood chips and gardens with a ridged cogwheel ring and purple-black gills.

Photo: Carrie Seltzer, CC BY
Compiled by Mushroom Forage Map field deskExpert review pendingContent checked
Identification warning

Take a spore print. Other mulch mushrooms, including Agaricus and Pholiotina, grow in the same beds.

Season
Spring to autumn
Habitat
Wood chips, straw, garden beds, and rich disturbed ground
Underside
Grayish lilac gills becoming purple-black
Spore evidence
Dark purple-brown to purple-black

Where it grows

Tracked records and known growing zone

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Squares: where people recorded it, brighter where more people did
Verified records
2,914
People who recorded it
1,932
Most records (northern hemisphere)
Apr–Jun
Records span
1985–2026

Research-grade iNaturalist records, snapshot Aug 27, 2026. The growing zone combines areas where different people have repeatedly verified it. Records show where people looked and found it, not current abundance or permission to gather.

Observation season

When field records occur

Choose a hemisphere · All recorded years; not a current forecast.

Choose the hemisphere you want to study. Country detection is approximate and some countries span the equator.

Compare before concluding

Lookalikes to rule out

A small brown lawn and mulch mushroom with rusty-brown spores and amatoxins.

Agaricus xanthodermus has free pink-to-brown gills and stains chrome yellow at the base.

Other Stropharia

caution

Related species are smaller or have a different cap color and ring.

Identification

Young caps are wine-red to burgundy, fading to tan. Gills start grayish lilac and darken to purple-black. The thick white stem carries a ring whose upper surface is split into ridges like a cogwheel, and white cords spread at the base. Spores are dark purple-brown.

Uses and ecology

Wine caps are a popular garden mushroom, grown in wood-chip beds, and they help build soil. Wild patches appear in landscaping mulch. Pick young caps.

Memorable fact

Gardeners grow wine caps between vegetable rows, where the mycelium breaks down wood chips into compost.

Sources

Never eat a mushroom from this page alone

Confirm identity using the whole specimen, multiple reputable sources, and a qualified local expert. Identified edible species still require appropriate preparation. Cooking does not make a poisonous mushroom safe.

Safety and poison response
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