Mushroom Identifier

Fungi encyclopedia

A reference for the fungi you actually find

Each entry describes one species the way you meet it in the field — the cap and its surface, what sits underneath, the stipe and its base, the spore print colour, the substrate it fruits from, and the species most often confused with it.

Showing results for Ink Cap

Scaly Rustgill

Scaly Rustgill

Gilled

A small to medium tawny-yellow woodland mushroom of conifer debris, with a finely scaly cap, yellow gills that rust with age, and a bright rusty spore print.

Spore print · Rusty orange-brown

Wrinkled Peach

Wrinkled Peach

Gilled

An unmistakable rubbery-fleshed mushroom whose apricot to salmon cap is embossed with a raised network of pale ridges, growing on dead elm and other decaying hardwood.

Spore print · Pink

Wrinkled Fieldcap

Wrinkled Fieldcap

Gilled

A tall pale fieldcap of fresh woodchip, recognised by its distinctly wrinkled and veined cap surface and the large flaring ring hanging from a white stipe.

Spore print · Dark brown

White Birch Bolete

White Birch Bolete

Boletes

A ghostly pale scaber stalk of wet birch bogs, almost white overall with soft watery flesh and a faint greenish tinge to the cap and stem base.

Spore print · Pale snuff-brown

Galerina marginata

Galerina marginata

Gilled

A small, ringed, tawny-brown wood-rotting agaric with a strongly hygrophanous cap and a rusty spore print, fruiting in troops on decaying logs and mossy stumps.

Spore print · Rust-brown

Golden Scalycap

Golden Scalycap

Gilled

A striking golden-orange Pholiota that fruits from wounds high on broadleaf trunks, with a glutinous cap bearing flattened darker scales and a rusty spore print.

Spore print · Rusty brown

Almond Mushroom

Almond Mushroom

Gilled

A warm-climate Agaricus of compost and enriched garden soil, recognised by its brown-fibrillose cap, large pendulous ring and strong almond-like aroma.

Spore print · Dark chocolate brown

Grass-green Russula

Gilled

An evenly grass-green brittlegill of birch woods, distinguished by its smooth unpatched cap, cream-ochre spore print and rusty spotting on ageing gills.

Spore print · Cream to pale ochre

Greencracked Brittlegill

Greencracked Brittlegill

Gilled

An unmistakable brittlegill whose firm green cap breaks up into a mosaic of angular verrucose patches, paired with white brittle gills and a plain white stipe.

Spore print · White

Hazel Bolete

Hazel Bolete

Boletes

A scaber stalk of hazel and hornbeam with a distinctly wrinkled, pitted olive-brown cap and white flesh that darkens through pink to near black when cut.

Spore print · Ochre-brown

Summer Bolete

Summer Bolete

Boletes

An early-season relative of the porcini with a dry, velvety, often crazed brown cap and a pale net covering the whole length of the stipe. Flesh is white and unchanging.

Spore print · Olive-brown

Coker's Amanita

Coker's Amanita

Gilled

A large, imposing white amanita whose cap is armoured with sharply pointed, downward-curving warts, and whose rooting bulb is ringed with rows of recurved scales.

Spore print · White

Charcoal Burner

Charcoal Burner

Gilled

A common woodland brittlegill with a variably purple, green and slate-grey cap, unique in the genus for gills that are soft, greasy and flexible rather than brittle and shattering.

Spore print · White

Stubble Rosegill

Stubble Rosegill

Gilled

A large greasy-capped mushroom of disturbed rich ground, with free gills that turn deep salmon pink and a stipe seated in a conspicuous white sac-like volva but with no ring at all.

Spore print · Salmon pink

Hen of the Woods

Hen of the Woods

Polypores

A large rosette of many overlapping grey-brown spoon-shaped caps rising from a branched white stalk at the foot of oaks, with a white pore surface running down the branches.

Spore print · White

Giant Cypress Agaricus

Gilled

A giant west-coast Agaricus of coastal cypress and pine groves, with a heavy brown-scaled cap that can reach 30 cm and a thick, patchy ring. Fruits in the winter rains.

Spore print · Dark chocolate brown

Vermilion Waxcap

Vermilion Waxcap

Gilled

A very small scarlet waxcap whose dry cap is minutely scurfy under a lens, with orange-red gills that run slightly down a smooth red stem.

Spore print · White

Spectacular Rustgill

Spectacular Rustgill

Gilled

A big, showy orange-tawny agaric that fruits in massive clusters at the base of broadleaf stumps, with a fibrillose scaly cap, ringed stipe and rusty orange spore print.

Spore print · Rusty orange-brown

Craterellus lutescens

Craterellus lutescens

Gilled

A slender funnel-shaped fungus with a scurfy brown cap, a bright orange-yellow hollow stalk and an almost smooth orange underside rather than distinct ridges.

Spore print · White to pale cream

Greenflush Fibrecap

Greenflush Fibrecap

Gilled

A sturdy pale ochre fibrecap with a distinctive blue-green flush over the cap centre and a sweet aromatic odour. Found on richer soils in broadleaf and mixed woodland.

Spore print · Snuff-brown

Inocybe erubescens

Inocybe erubescens

Gilled

A stout, silky white fibrecap of chalky beech and lime woods that reddens conspicuously where handled or aged. Its spring fruiting and radially split cap are characteristic.

Spore print · Clay brown

Felt-ringed Agaricus

Felt-ringed Agaricus

Gilled

A stout western North American Agaricus recognised by its thick felty ring with cottony patches, pinkish-brown fibrillose cap and yellow-staining bulbous base.

Spore print · Dark chocolate brown

Lion Shield

Lion Shield

Gilled

A slender golden-yellow shield mushroom with a velvety wrinkled cap centre, a finely lined margin and free gills that flush pink. It fruits on decaying deciduous wood.

Spore print · Pink to salmon-pink

Angel's Bonnet

Angel's Bonnet

Gilled

A late-fruiting bonnet with an olive-grey to yellowish cap and a slender stem, growing in tufts on mossy hardwood. Fresh material carries a distinctive iodine-like smell.

Spore print · White