Periodically I had been finding some small Agaricus species with no staining, a mild smell of aniseed and an overpowering flavour of aniseed when cooked or consumed.
Natasha said the taste ruined her risotto and I popped them in for sequencing.
Is the smell of aniseed a fixed difference between these and other species? who knows.
The results were confusing as it sat within the known phenol-containing mildly poisonous Agaricus in section xanthodermatei. Confusing, poor tasting and best avoided. BUT no yellow staining OR phenolic smell…