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 “Death Cap”
Shaggy Mane
Gilled
A tall white cylindrical mushroom covered in shaggy upturned scales, whose gills blacken and dissolve into an inky liquid from the cap margin upward as it matures.
Spore print · Black
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
Tawny Funnel
Gilled
A rusty orange-brown funnel that fruits in dense crowded troops and rings in woodland litter, with very crowded decurrent gills that age to the cap colour.
Spore print · Pale cream
Trooping Funnel
Gilled
A tall, large pale buff funnel that forms sweeping troops and fairy rings along woodland edges, keeping a distinct central bump in the funnel.
Spore print · White
Meadow Waxcap
Gilled
A robust apricot-buff waxcap with a dry, matt cap, thick pale decurrent gills running well down the stem, and a stout stipe tapering to the base.
Spore print · White
Date Waxcap
Gilled
A rare and unmistakable waxcap combining a dark date-brown conical cap with vivid lemon-yellow gills and stipe.
Spore print · White
Jelly Baby
Jellies
A small rubbery club fungus with a slimy ochre-yellow head perched on a paler stalk, usually appearing in troops on damp woodland soil. Its gelatinous texture and irregular, inrolled cap margin make it unlike any true gilled mushroom.
Spore print · Whitish (rarely taken)
Surprise Webcap
Gilled
A drab olive-brown webcap of sandy conifer ground that hides vivid blood-red gills beneath an unremarkable cap, hence the name.
Spore print · Rusty brown
Woolly Milkcap
Gilled
A pink, concentrically banded birch milkcap with a heavily inrolled, shaggily woolly cap margin and copious white latex that does not change colour.
Spore print · Cream
Appalachian Chanterelle
Gilled
A slender, small chanterelle with a brownish to olive-brown cap contrasting against pale yellow false gills. It is characteristic of hardwood slopes in and around the Appalachian Mountains.
Spore print · Pale yellow to cream
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
Milky Conecap
Gilled
An extremely fragile white to cream conical mushroom of lawns and short grass that appears overnight and collapses within hours, betrayed by its rusty cinnamon spore print.
Spore print · Rusty cinnamon-brown
Mower's Mushroom
Gilled
A very common small brown lawn mushroom whose hygrophanous cap dries in distinct pale bands, with mottled brown gills and dark purplish-brown spores.
Spore print · Dark purplish brown
Clustered Bonnet
Gilled
A small bell-capped bonnet that grows in dense tufts on oak and sweet chestnut stumps, recognised by the finely toothed, scalloped cap edge and a slender stem that turns golden then rusty orange-brown below.
Spore print · White
Snowy Waxcap
Gilled
A small, slender, entirely white waxcap with thick decurrent gills and a tapering stem, often the last waxcap still fruiting in the turf after the first frosts.
Spore print · White
Honey Waxcap
Gilled
A medium orange waxcap with a dry matt cap, pale orange decurrent-toothed gills and a distinct honey odour that becomes obvious as the fruit body dries.
Spore print · White
Fleecy Milkcap
Gilled
A heavy chalk-white milkcap with a velvety fleecy cap, widely spaced cream gills that stain brown, and thick white latex from broken flesh.
Spore print · White to cream
Butter Waxcap
Gilled
A small buttery-yellow waxcap with a slightly greasy cap, a dry stem and pale yellow gills that run a little way down the stipe.
Spore print · White
Rufous Milkcap
Gilled
A deep brick-red milkcap of acid pine and birch woodland, recognised by the sharp little point at the centre of a dry, matt cap. Its white latex stays white and is produced abundantly.
Spore print · Pale cream
Peppery Milkcap
Gilled
A chalk-white broadleaf milkcap with extremely crowded, narrow, forking decurrent gills and abundant white latex that floods any cut surface.
Spore print · White
Nitrous Waxcap
Gilled
A drab grey-brown waxcap identified less by colour than by its sharp nitrous, bleach-like smell and fibrous, matt cap.
Spore print · White
Splendid Waxcap
Gilled
One of the largest scarlet waxcaps, with a deep blood-red cap, yellow-flushed decurrent gills, and a honey-like scent as it dries.
Spore print · White
Mossy Maple Polypore
Polypores
A small perennial bracket that grows in overlapping clusters from wounds on living maples, instantly recognised by the carpet of green moss and algae that covers its cap and its very fine white pores.
Spore print · White
Fishy Milkcap
Gilled
A firm, apricot-orange milkcap that bleeds copious white latex and stains every damaged surface rich brown. Its strong shellfish-like odour, developing with age, is the quickest field character.
Spore print · White