page_title: Leucopaxillus giganteus
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Leucopaxillus giganteus / Description
caption_attribution_description: This is a plate from James Sowerby's Coloured Figures of English Fungi or Mushrooms.
context_page_description: Leucopaxillus giganteus, commonly known as the giant leucopax or the giant funnel, is a saprobic species of fungus in the family Tricholomataceae. As its common names imply, the fruit body, or mushroom, can become quite large—the cap reaches diameters of up to 50 cm. It has a white or pale cream cap, and is funnel-shaped when mature, with the gills running down the length of the stem. Considered by some to be a choice edible when young, this species has a cosmopolitan distribution, and is typically found growing in groups or rings in grassy pastures, roadside hedges, or woodland clearings. Leucopaxillus giganteus contains a number of bioactive compounds, one of which has displayed antibiotic and anti-tumor properties in laboratory tests.
context_section_description: The cap of L. giganteus can become rather large, up to 30–50 cm (12–20 in), rarely even 70 cm (28 in) in diameter with a thickness of 1 to 1.4 cm (0.4 to 0.6 in) at half the radius. Younger specimens have caps that are convex, with a margin that is rolled downwards, but as the mushrooms matures the cap flattens out and eventually becomes shallowly funnel-shaped. The cap is smooth and creamy white in color, but may develop brown stains and circular cracks with age.
  The cream-colored gills are narrow, crowded close together, and have a decurrent attachment—running down the length of the stem; in age the gills will darken to a buff color. The stem is off-white with reddish-brown fibers and has dimensions, when mature, of up to 4 to 10 cm (1.6 to 3.9 in) tall by 2 to 5 cm (0.8 to 2.0 in) thick. There is no ring on the stem. At the base of the stem there is typically a dense, white mycelium that may form a mat. The flesh is firm, and also is white. Mature specimens are fragile, and difficult to remove from the ground without breaking.
caption: Illustration of the type figure of L. giganteus (originally Agaricus giganteus) (1803)
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