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 “Chicken of the Woods”
Reindeer Lichen
Other Fungi
A pale ash-grey fruticose lichen forming deep spongy mats of repeatedly forked hollow branches, dominant on tundra, heath and open pine woodland floors.
Spore print · Not applicable
Purple Jellydisc
Jellies
Clusters of rubbery reddish-purple blobs and shallow discs crowding dead beech stumps, alternating between a lumpy asexual form and neat spore-bearing cups.
Spore print · White
Dung-loving Bird's Nest
Other Fungi
A small dark bird's nest fungus, shaggy when young but smooth-walled inside, distinguished by its jet-black eggs and its habit of growing on dung and heavily manured ground.
Spore print · Not applicable (spores held in peridioles)
Domicile Cup Fungus
Cups & Discs
A pale whitish to buff cup fungus famous for fruiting indoors on damp plaster, concrete, sand and even carpet, often growing in irregular, contorted shapes.
Spore print · White
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
Golden Oyster
Gilled
A clustered oyster mushroom with bright lemon to golden-yellow caps that flatten into shallow funnels, with white decurrent gills on fused off-centre stalks.
Spore print · White to pale lilac-grey
Iodine Bolete
Boletes
A pale, dry-capped bolete of warm oak woodland with lemon-yellow pores that do not blue and a stipe base whose flesh carries a distinctive iodoform-like odour.
Spore print · Olive-brown
Lion's Mane
Toothed
An unmistakable white cushion of long, downward-hanging spines that grows from wounds on standing hardwoods, looking like a frozen waterfall or a shaggy mane.
Spore print · White
Coccora
Gilled
A large, handsome Pacific coast amanita with a deep orange-brown cap that usually carries one thick, felty white patch of veil, a lined margin, and a deep sac-like volva.
Spore print · White
Glue Crust
Crusts
A thin grey-brown crust on hazel, famous for cementing a dead branch to a living one so that it stays suspended in the canopy.
Spore print · White
Larch Bolete
Boletes
A glossy golden-brown bolete found only under larch, with a slimy cap, yellow pores that bruise brownish, and a ring on the stem.
Spore print · Ochre-brown
Mauve Parachute
Gilled
A jewel-like tropical parachute with a deeply pleated purple-red cap, pale distant gills and a shining black hair of a stem, scattered on fallen twigs and leaves.
Spore print · White
Small Stagshorn
Jellies
Small, tough-gelatinous yellow spikes that stand upright in groups along dead hardwood, usually unbranched and rarely more than a couple of centimetres tall.
Spore print · White to pale yellowish
Torn Fibrecap
Gilled
A small, drab, grey-brown fibrecap whose cap surface breaks up into ragged torn fibrils and scales. A pioneer of sandy tracks, heathland and young conifer plantations.
Spore print · Dull brown
Pear Fibrecap
Gilled
A pale ochre fibrecap that flushes rusty red where handled and carries a strong sweet scent of ripe pears. A robust species of broadleaf woodland on richer soils.
Spore print · Snuff-brown
Panaeolus antillarum
Gilled
A comparatively large, pale-capped dung mottlegill of warm regions, with a smooth whitish to cream cap that cracks in dry weather and heavily mottled blackening gills.
Spore print · Black
Hairy Rubber Cup
Cups & Discs
A tough, rubbery goblet with a smooth reddish-brown disc set inside a blackish, densely bristly cup. Its gelatinous-rubbery texture is unlike that of any other brown woodland cup.
Spore print · White
Mustard Yellow Polypore
Polypores
A thin tiered bracket of dead hardwood whose bright mustard-yellow velvety top contrasts sharply with a dark purplish to grey-brown pore surface of very fine pores.
Spore print · White
Cortinarius orellanus
Gilled
A medium-sized tawny webcap of oak and beech woodland with a dry, finely scaly convex cap, thick distant cinnamon gills and a tapering yellow-brown stipe without veil belts.
Spore print · Rusty brown
Lace Lichen
Other Fungi
A pale greenish lichen that hangs in long lacy, net-like curtains from oak branches in coastal fog country, unmistakable for its mesh of interconnected strands.
Spore print · Not applicable
Crimped Gill
Gilled
A tiny, tough bracket that forms tiered rows of tawny-zoned fans on fallen hardwood branches, its underside covered in crimped, forking white folds rather than true gills.
Spore print · White
Golden Bootleg
Gilled
A large and striking golden-ochre mushroom of nutrient-rich waste ground, coated in a fine granular powder and carrying a big flaring ring on a sheathed, boot-like stem.
Spore print · Ochre-brown
Gooseberry Brittlegill
Gilled
A slender purple-wine brittlegill of spruce plantations, recognised by its purple-flushed stipe, pale cream gills and a distinct fruity gooseberry smell.
Spore print · Pale cream
Elegant Sunburst Lichen
Other Fungi
A tightly appressed, brilliant orange rock lichen forming neat rosettes of narrow radiating lobes, common on bird-perch boulders in alpine and arctic country.
Spore print · Not applicable