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 “Black Morel”
Perigord Black Truffle
Other Fungi
A hypogeous ascomycete forming rounded black tubers covered in small pyramidal warts, with a purple-black interior finely marbled by white veins.
Spore print · Not applicable (hypogeous)
Black Witch's Butter
Jellies
An olive-black gelatinous fungus forming warty cushions on dead oak branches, its upper surface studded with minute dark pimples that give it a rough, granular look.
Spore print · White
Black Velvet Bolete
Boletes
A dramatic bolete with a velvety black cap and stipe over a white pore surface. Cut flesh flushes pink then slowly turns grey to black.
Spore print · Pinkish-brown
Black Witches' Butter
Jellies
A gelatinous black fungus forming rubbery cushions and blobs that fuse into wrinkled, brain-like crusts on dead hardwood branches. It swells in wet weather and shrinks to a thin black scab when dry.
Spore print · White
Black-footed Polypore
Polypores
A stalked polypore with a polished chestnut-brown, funnel-shaped cap and minute white pores, recognised instantly by the inky black lower half of its stem.
Spore print · White
Western Black Elfin Saddle
Cups & Discs
The stout western counterpart of the black elfin saddle, with a large charcoal saddle-shaped head on a thick, deeply chambered pale grey stalk. It fruits in conifer duff along the Pacific coast and inland mountains.
Spore print · White
Fluted Black Elfin Saddle
Cups & Discs
A striking grey to charcoal ascomycete with a crumpled saddle-shaped head raised on a deeply fluted, chambered stalk. Its dark colour makes it hard to spot against woodland litter despite its size.
Spore print · White
Veined Cup
Cups & Discs
A broad, almost stalkless brown disc whose inner surface is scored with prominent radiating veins, found on damp ground in spring. A strong chlorine-like odour and the pale, mealy outer surface make it easy to recognise.
Spore print · White to cream
Horn of Plenty
Other Fungi
A thin-fleshed, hollow, grey-black trumpet that grows in dense troops among leaf litter. Its funnel shape, near-smooth outer surface and lack of any true gills make it distinctive.
Spore print · White to pale cream
Wheat Stem Rust
Other Fungi
The classic cereal rust, forming ragged brick-red pustules along wheat stems that turn coal-black late in the season, with orange cluster-cups on barberry in spring.
Spore print · Not applicable (rusty red spore masses)
Blackedge Bonnet
Gilled
A sturdy lilac-brown bonnet whose pale violaceous gills carry sharply contrasting dark purple-black edges. It fruits in troops through beech and other broadleaf litter and smells strongly of radish.
Spore print · White
Desert Shaggy Mane
Puffballs
A tall desert fungus with a woody stalk carrying an elongate, shaggy white capsule that splits to release blackish-brown powder. It persists for months in dry climates long after fruiting.
Spore print · Blackish brown
Poplar Fieldcap
Gilled
A clustering trunk-dwelling mushroom with a tan cap that wrinkles and cracks with age, cinnamon-brown gills, and a tough pale stem carrying a persistent spore-stained ring.
Spore print · Dull tobacco brown
Shiitake
Gilled
A tough-fleshed wood-rotting agaric with a dry brown cap that cracks into a pale crazed pattern, white notched gills and a fibrous, off-centre stem with a fleeting ring zone.
Spore print · White
Cracked Cap Polypore
Polypores
A hard perennial conk almost restricted to black locust, its blackened upper crust splitting into deep blocky cracks above a rich rusty brown pore surface.
Spore print · Pale yellowish to whitish
Ebony Cup
Cups & Discs
Small jet-black rubbery cups that appear in spring among moss and conifer needle litter, their outer surface felted with fine dark hairs.
Spore print · White
Velvet Rollrim
Gilled
A robust brown mushroom of conifer stumps with a suede-textured inrolled cap, decurrent forking gills that peel away from the flesh, and a thick stem clad in dark brown-black velvet.
Spore print · Yellowish-brown
Hairy Earthtongue
Other Fungi
A small black club or tongue standing upright in mossy turf, its whole surface matt and velvety from projecting bristles. It is a classic indicator of old unimproved waxcap grassland.
Spore print · Brown-black
Blackening Waxcap
Gilled
A sharply conical orange to scarlet waxcap that turns inky black wherever it is bruised or as it ages, ending as a wholly charred-looking fruit body.
Spore print · White
Summer Truffle
Other Fungi
A widespread hypogeous ascomycete with a black exterior of large, coarse pyramidal warts and a pale hazel-brown interior broadly marbled with white veins.
Spore print · Not applicable (hypogeous)
Brown Puffball
Puffballs
A round grassland puffball whose white outer skin peels away to reveal a shining purple-black inner ball. Larger than the Grey Puffball and equally prone to breaking loose and rolling.
Spore print · Purple-brown
Blackening Brittlegill
Gilled
A heavy, thick-fleshed brittlegill with unusually distant, fat gills whose white flesh reddens then slowly turns grey and finally coal-black, leaving charred-looking husks that persist for months.
Spore print · White
Bronze Bolete
Boletes
The darkest member of the porcini group, with a sooty bronze to almost black velvety cap over a brown stipe finely netted in pale lines. Flesh white and unchanging.
Spore print · Olive-brown
Pioppino
Gilled
A clustered wood-dwelling mushroom with a wrinkled tan cap, a firm white stipe bearing a persistent ring, and gills that darken from whitish to tobacco brown. It grows in tiers on poplar and other soft hardwoods.
Spore print · Tobacco brown