St George's mushroom (Calocybe gambosa): where and when it grows

The spring mushroom par excellence. A smell of flour you notice from metres away and a price that says it all.

A ring of cream-coloured St George's mushrooms in the grass of a meadow, next to a hawthorn in flower
St George's mushrooms in spring, forming a ring in the grass next to a hawthorn in flower: thick cream-coloured flesh and crowded white gills.

The st george's mushroom (Calocybe gambosa) comes out from March to June, at its best in April, in pastures, meadows and wasteland, mostly in the middle mountains.

See where it is ready this week

No area is ready for St George's mushrooms this week: the forest is still asleep.

St George's mushroom comes up in spring in mountain pastures, in rings that return year after year to the same place. In the north of Spain it is hunted with the same passion as the porcini in autumn, and it fetches a higher price.

It needs spring to arrive for real: April rains on soil that has already warmed up after the winter. The map follows that moment in the areas of pasture and upland meadows.

What it needs to come out

First, a good rain, the kind that soaks the ground. Then patience: it usually appears one or two weeks later, as long as the soil holds on to that moisture and stays cool. If a frost, too much water or a drying wind comes in between, the flush is aborted and never shows.

Where to look

It comes out in pastures, meadows and wasteland, mostly in the middle mountains, without being fussy about the soil.

St George's mushrooms by province (in Spanish)

How the forest is doing this week

Forecast of 11 September, updated every day.

Mushrooms that share its woods

How we know when the forest wakes up (in Spanish).