Habitat: Grows on dung, primarily of cattle.

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Coprinopsis nivea is a medium to medium-large snow-white species (nivea comes from the Latin word for snow) that grows on dung, primarily of cattle. The white veil material is powdery due to the spherical shape of many of the cells that make it up. Other dung-loving ink-caps are either not white or are smaller, so this is an easy species to identify. Although C. nivea probably is edible and is substantial enough to be a candidate for the table, it rarely is found in quantity and its substrate is off-putting to many. Its former name was Coprinus niveus. It is usually tall and stately, with a bullet-shaped white cap covered with whitish to brown scales that are not removable. The stipe is white, usually fairly thick, and has a movable ring in its lower portion if it has not fallen off And, of course, the caps turn to ink, from the edge upward. Shaggy manes usually occur in groups, often quite large ones, but not in clusters. They are most common in grassy areas and hard-packed soil along trails and roadsides, fruiting mostly in late summer or early fall in the PNW.

Sources: Trudell, Steve and Joe Ammirati. Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Portland, Timber Press, Inc. 2009.