If you touch a shaggy mane past its prime, or the gills, you’ll get a black ink-like liquid on your fingers. This mushroom ink was previously employed as an ink replacement, and they are occasionally referred to as inky cap mushrooms, however this typically refers to their appearance.

Shaggy manes emerge directly from the ground in late summer and fall. They can be found in lawns, wood chip piles, rocky soil, and any other spot of compacted and mistreated ground. They’re an excellent mushroom for urban foragers since they like compacted or deteriorated soils. They frequently emerge in compacted soils at the margins of driveways immediately after a storm.