The fairy ring mushroom (Marasmius oreades) — also called the fairy ring champignon or Scotch bonnet — is a small, tough-stemmed lawn mushroom famous for the dark green rings it raises in grass and for a sweet, almond-and-hay flavour prized far out of proportion to its modest size. A tan-to-buff cap barely 2–5 cm across, low and bell-shaped with a rounded central bump, sits on a slender, wiry, remarkably tough stem; the pale, well-spaced gills and the cap's ability to shrivel in drought and revive plump after the next rain are its hallmarks. It has been gathered from pastures, lawns and grassy roadsides across Europe for centuries — the caps picked, the stringy stems discarded, and the flesh dried and hoarded as one of the most intensely flavoured of all mushroom seasonings for soups and stocks.