Coprinopsis nivea, commonly known as the snowy inky cap or snowy inkcap, is a species of mushroom producing fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae.
It was first described in 1801 by the German mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon who classified it as Agaricus niveus.
In 1838 it was reclassified as Coprinus niveus by the Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries.
In 2001 phylogentic analysis restructured the Coprinus genus and it was reclassified as Coprinopsis nivea by the mycologists Scott Alan Redhead, Rytas J. Vilgalys & Jean-Marc Moncalvo.
Coprinopsis nivea is a small inkcap mushroom which grows in wetland environments.
Cap: 1.5âÂÂ3 cm. Starts egg shaped expanding to become campanulate (bell shaped). Covered in white powdery fragments of the veil when young. Gills: Start white before turning grey and ultimately black and deliquescing (dissolving into an ink-like black substance). Crowded and adnate or free. Stem: 3âÂÂ9 cm long and 4-7mm in diameter. White with a very slightly bulbous base which may present with white tufts similar to that of the cap. Spore print: Black. Spores: Flattened ellipsoid and smooth with a germ pore. 15-19 x 8.5-10.5 üm. Taste: Indistinct. Smell: Indistinct.
The specific epithet nivea (originally niveus) is Latin for snowy or snow-covered. This is a reference to the powdery white appearance of this mushroom.
Grows in small trooping or tufting groups on old dung, especially that of cows and horses, Summer through late Autumn. Widespread and recorded quite regularly.