ill be sure to keep my eyes peeled for another, I was quite surprised to find it with the lack of rain.

younger material would help. the iodine odor in bernardii is quite distinctive, but old half-rotten mushrooms kinda confuse the issue. most of the bernardii that I have collected also usually have a cracked cap (this one doesn’t) but that feature may be more related to humidity and sun exposure than ID. and I was under the impression that ONLY bernardii stained reddish, not bitorquis, altho the “staining” shown in the photos is pretty subtle.

please go back and look for more, Shane! Inquiring minds, and all that…

I’ve seen both bitorquis and bernardii near the bay. I think there are also some new species in that group that Kerrigan will report at some point. But to be able to make sure it should be sliced as bernardii has a more pronounced rufescense. Otherwise I’d stick to bitorquis as the most likely scenario. Both have very similar veils. This is clearly not campestris. [LET ME EDIT: not so clearly not campestris, but the ratio of cap vs. stem and other features, doesn’t look like it]

and I’d imagine that they use a LOT of salt in the roadways in the Denver area.

its odor is often described as “briny” or like iodine. it was fruiting abundantly in the Denver area in June.

This looks like the one I call Agaricus bitorquis. It has one thin, but rather persistent ring, and a thinner and more evanescent one below, that is directed upwards.
Very young ones have an agreeable smell, but it soon turns to foul.

I thought campestris myself, I figured the bad rotting odor might be because of its age