Parasol mushrooms. The fruiting bodies of Lepiota procera, the Parasol mushroom. This large mushroom produces a flattened pale brown cap of up to 25cm diameter, from egg-shaped expansions (foreground right). The large conical cap on the left will flatten out as it grows. The stalk grows up to 30cm long. This mushroom has white gills and soft white flesh which is edible and tastes excellent. It grows in open woods and pastures during summer and autumn. Mushrooms are reproductive bodies, which develop to form and distribute spores after two fungal mycelia of the same species have come together.