MushroomDB
104 mushroom species with edibility, habitat, season, and natural history. From Chanterelles to Death Caps.
Featured
Fly Agaric
The iconic red-with-white-spots toadstool. Contains ibotenic acid and muscimol -...
Chanterelle
One of the most prized edible mushrooms worldwide. Their apricot-like aroma is u...
Death Cap
Responsible for the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide. A single ca...
Lions Mane
Looks like a white cascade of soft spines. One of the most promising medicinal m...
Truffle (Black Perigord)
The most expensive food in the world by weight - $800-1,500 per kg. They grow un...
Cordyceps
The zombie fungus - it infects insects, takes over their nervous system, and for...
Turkey Tail
One of the most researched medicinal mushrooms. Their colorful concentric zones ...
Morel
One of the most sought-after wild mushrooms. Their honeycomb-like cap is distinc...
Choice Edible (32)
Chanterelle
One of the most prized edible mushrooms worldwide. Their apricot-like aroma is u...
Shiitake
The second most cultivated mushroom worldwide. Native to East Asia, cultivated f...
Morel
One of the most sought-after wild mushrooms. Their honeycomb-like cap is distinc...
Oyster Mushroom
One of the most widely cultivated mushrooms globally. They are carnivorous - the...
Truffle (Black Perigord)
The most expensive food in the world by weight - $800-1,500 per kg. They grow un...
Portobello
Actually just an overgrown cremini mushroom - all three (button, cremini, portob...
Hen of the Woods
Also called Maitake in Japanese (dancing mushroom). Can grow to massive sizes - ...
King Bolete
Also called porcini (little piglet in Italian). One of the most prized edible wi...
Enoki
The cultivated version is long, white, and thin - grown in the dark to prevent c...
Matsutake
The most expensive mushroom in Asia - Japanese matsutake can sell for $1,000-2,0...
Porcini (dried)
Drying concentrates their flavor dramatically - the drying process creates new f...
Maitake
Japanese name means dancing mushroom - people danced with joy when finding them....
Cremini
Simply a young portobello - same species (Agaricus bisporus) at an intermediate ...
Nameko
Their caps are covered in a thick, gelatinous coating that gives a silky texture...
Trumpet (Black)
Called the poor mans truffle for their deep, rich, earthy flavor. Dark grey to b...
Hedgehog Mushroom
Instead of gills, they have tiny tooth-like spines under the cap - their hedgeho...
Chicken of the Woods
Bright orange and yellow shelf fungus that actually tastes like chicken when you...
Penny Bun
The archetypal toadstool shape - thick white stem, rounded brown cap. Also calle...
King Oyster
The largest oyster mushroom species with a thick, meaty stem. The stem is the ma...
Beech Mushroom
Small, elegant mushrooms growing in clusters on beech trees. Brown and white var...
Caesars Amanita
Amanita caesarea, the mushroom of emperors, prized in Italy since Roman times. B...
Straw Mushroom
Volvariella volvacea, cultivated across Asia on rice straw for roughly 2,000 yea...
Horn of Plenty
Craterellus tubaeformis, the yellowfoot or winter chanterelle. Small brown cap, ...
Meadow Mushroom
Agaricus campestris, the wild cousin of the shop button mushroom, eaten since Ro...
Parasol
Macrolepiota procera, a magnificent scaly cap on a snakeskin stem with a sliding...
Wine Cap
Stropharia rugosoannulata, the garden giant, and one of the easiest mushrooms to...
Cauliflower Fungus
Sparassis crispa, a brain of wavy ribbons erupting at pine bases. Specimens can ...
Comb Tooth
Hericium coralloides, a cousin of lions mane growing as a white coral of cascadi...
Pioppino
Cyclocybe aegerita, the black poplar mushroom of Italian cooking, cultivated on ...
Saffron Milk Cap
Lactarius deliciosus bleeds carrot orange latex when cut and slowly bruises gree...
Chestnut Bolete
Gyroporus castaneus, a small chestnut brown bolete with a hollow stem that feels...
St Georges Mushroom
Calocybe gambosa appears around St Georges Day, April 23, in old pastures. Smell...
Edible (12)
Amethyst Deceiver
Strikingly purple when fresh, fading to dull brown with age - hence deceiver. Th...
Scaly Wood Mushroom
Similar to the cultivated button mushroom but wild. Their cap develops brown sca...
Anise Toadstool
Clitocybe odora smells so strongly of anise that one dried cap can perfume a who...
Wood Ear
Auricularia auricula, the crunchy brown jelly in hot and sour soup. Records of c...
Pine Spike
Chroogomphus rutilus, a slimy capped conifer partner with a pointed cap and decu...
Horse Mushroom
Agaricus arvensis, a large creamy field mushroom with a faint anise or almond sm...
Lobster Mushroom
Not one species but a parasite, Hypomyces lactifluorum, that coats Russula and m...
Shrimp of the Woods
Entoloma abortivum, a fungus whose attacks on honey fungus produce white lumpy m...
Charcoal Burner
Russula cyanoxantha is a confusing rainbow, with caps of purple, green, bronze o...
Indigo Milk Cap
Lactarius indigo bleeds startling blue latex. One of the most unmistakable mushr...
Sheep Polypore
Albatrellus ovinus, a fleshy pale polypore of northern spruce forests and a Scan...
Crested Coral
Clavulina coralloides, small white branches like sea coral rising from forest li...
Edible (cook well) (17)
Wood Blewit
Distinctive lilac-blue color when fresh. They must be cooked thoroughly - raw or...
Honey Fungus
Contains the largest known organism on Earth by area - an Armillaria ostoyae in ...
Beefsteak Fungus
Fistulina hepatica looks and bleeds like raw liver, oozing red juice when cut. A...
Fried Chicken Mushroom
Lyophyllum decastes fruits in dense clumps on the ground near trees. Firm flesh ...
Tawny Grisette
Amanita fulva, one of the milder members of a deadly genus. Orange brown cap, ta...
Split Gill
Schizophyllum commune, likely the most widespread mushroom on Earth, recorded on...
Old Man of the Woods
Strobilomyces strobilaceus looks like a pinecone fragment wearing woolly gray sc...
Pigs Ear
Gomphus clavatus, a purple tinged funnel that folds like an ear. Prized for cent...
Birch Bolete
Leccinum scabrum, the classic birch partner with a scab covered stem. Gray black...
Shaggy Parasol
Chlorophyllum rhacodes, a thick fleshed parasol with a shaggy brown cap. Flesh s...
Weeping Milk Cap
Lactarius volemus drips abundant white latex when cut, hence weeping. Dried spec...
Two Colored Bolete
Baorangia bicolor, a classic eastern North American summer bolete with a yellow ...
Gypsy Mushroom
Cortinarius caperatus, a tan wrinkled cap long placed in its own genus Rozites b...
Scarlet Elf Cup
Sarcoscypha austriaca, a scarlet cup on waterlogged sticks, often the only mushr...
Brick Cap
Hypholoma sublateritium, brick capped clusters on dead wood, cultivated in Japan...
Sheathed Woodtuft
Kuehneromyces mutabilis, a beloved northern European edible with shiny two toned...
The Blusher
Amanita rubescens stains wine red wherever bruised or cut, hence the name. Thoro...
Medicinal (10)
Reishi
Called the mushroom of immortality in traditional Chinese medicine, used for 2,0...
Turkey Tail
One of the most researched medicinal mushrooms. Their colorful concentric zones ...
Chaga
A sterile conk growing on birch trees in cold climates. Not technically a mushro...
Cordyceps
The zombie fungus - it infects insects, takes over their nervous system, and for...
Agarikon
A rare old-growth forest mushroom that can live 75+ years. Paul Stamets calls it...
Birch Polypore
The Iceman Otzi, preserved in ice for 5,300 years, carried birch polypore - like...
Tinder Polypore
Essential for human civilization - their dried tissue catches sparks and holds e...
Artists Conk
Ganoderma applanatum, a hard perennial bracket. Scratching its white underside l...
Umbrella Polypore
Dendropolyporus umbellatus rises as a cluster of gray brown caps on one branchin...
Bleeding Tooth
Hydnellum peckii, a white fungus that oozes blood red droplets across its cap. G...
Psychoactive (1)
Poisonous (12)
Fly Agaric
The iconic red-with-white-spots toadstool. Contains ibotenic acid and muscimol -...
Jack O Lantern
Famous for being bioluminescent - their gills glow faintly green in complete dar...
Sulphur Tuft
Hypholoma fasciculare, one of the most common mushrooms on the planet, fruiting ...
Angel Wings
Pleurocybella porrigens, delicate white shelves shaped like wings. Eaten safely ...
Early Morel
Verpa bohemica, a morel lookalike whose thimble cap hangs from the very top of a...
Ghost Fungus
Omphalotus nidiformis, a pale Australian mushroom whose gills glow ghostly green...
Yellow Stainer
Agaricus xanthodermus ruins lawn foraging. Looks like a shop button mushroom, bu...
Green Spored Parasol
Chlorophyllum molybdites causes more mushroom poisonings in North America than a...
Big Laughing Gym
Gymnopilus junonius, a large bitter orange cluster mushroom. In Japan it belongs...
Emetic Russula
Russula emetica, the sickener. Bright red cap, chalk white brittle flesh, and a ...
Satans Bolete
Rubroboletus satanas, a massive bolete with a pale cap, red pores and a fat stem...
Livid Pinkgill
Entoloma sinuatum, a chunky tan to white mushroom regularly mistaken for St Geor...
Deadly Poisonous (7)
Death Cap
Responsible for the majority of fatal mushroom poisonings worldwide. A single ca...
Destroying Angel
All-white and deceptively beautiful - among the deadliest organisms on Earth. Co...
Jeweled Deathcap
A beautiful but deadly Amanita species with a yellow-green cap decorated with wh...
Brown Roll Rim
Paxillus involutus was eaten widely in Eastern Europe for generations, and Germa...
False Morel
Gyromitra esculenta, a spring mushroom whose gyromitrin converts to monomethylhy...
Deadly Galerina
Galerina marginata, a small brown mushroom carrying the same amatoxins as the de...
Deadly Webcap
Cortinarius rubellus, a cinnamon toned mushroom whose orellanine silently destro...