This large lepiota's whitish cap is 3 to 8 inches wide, convex to flat, with large pinkish to cinnamon brown patches.

The cap's (and the rest of the mushroom's) whitish flesh turns pinkish when cut.

The broad, free, white gills are close together. The spores are white.

The club-shaped to bulbous white stalk is 4 to 8 inches long and 3/8 to 1 inch thick, turning brownish where injured. A movable ring encircles the upper stalk.

The shaggy parasol grows on the ground in wood debris under conifers in late summer and fall in eastern North America, and from late fall to late winter on the West Coast, sometimes in large quantity.

This is not a mushroom for unsupervised beginners. You could confuse it with deadly Amanitas, and there are other deadly Lepiota species.

There's also a poisonous look-alike with green spores and gills which start white and turn greenish (be sure you get a white spore print to rule out the green-spore lepiota). And some people have adverse reactions to the shaggy parasol.

The shaggy parasol is a very strong-flavored, meaty, choice mushroom that goes well in hearty dishes. Cook the cap and stem 15 to 20 minutes using virtually any method you choose, and you won't be disappointed.