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”
Magpie Inkcap
Gilled
A tall, dramatic inkcap whose blackish-brown cap is broken into a pied pattern by large white felty veil patches. It stands singly in deep beech litter on lime-rich soils and dissolves into black ink within a day.
Spore print · Black
Snowy Inkcap
Gilled
A small, brilliantly white inkcap coated in a floury veil, growing on cow and horse dung in pasture. Its pure white cap darkens and dissolves to black within a day.
Spore print · Black
Midden Inkcap
Gilled
A miniature counterpart of the Shaggy Inkcap that lives on manure heaps, with a white scaly cylindrical cap, a slender ringed stem and the same rapid melt into black ink.
Spore print · Black
Firerug Inkcap
Gilled
An inkcap identified by the rusty-orange felted mycelial mat, the ozonium, that carpets the wood it grows from. The tawny cap is grooved and dusted with pale granular veil.
Spore print · Black
Pleated Inkcap
Gilled
A tiny, exquisitely pleated grey mushroom that opens like a paper parasol on lawns after rain and collapses by the afternoon. Its gills attach to a collar rather than the stipe.
Spore print · Black
Hare's Foot Inkcap
Gilled
A short-lived inkcap whose young cylindrical cap is wrapped in dense silvery-white wool like a hare's foot, then expands, splits, and curls back within hours. Common on woodchip and litter.
Spore print · Black
Goldenhaired Inkcap
Gilled
A small ochre-brown inkcap whose young cap is speckled with golden-brown veil granules; the gills blacken and deliquesce as the fruit body ages.
Spore print · Black
Cat Dapperling
Gilled
A small conifer-woodland dapperling with a starkly two-toned cap: near-black scales scattered over a white ground around a dark disc, above a slender stem with a distinct dark-edged ring.
Spore print · White
Grey Shag
Gilled
A tall, fragile inkcap of manure and composted straw, its ovoid grey cap coated in loose woolly veil fibres before it splits, curls and melts away into black ink.
Spore print · Black
Common Funnel
Gilled
A slender, pinkish-buff woodland mushroom whose thin cap develops a deep central funnel above crowded white decurrent gills.
Spore print · White
Yellow Stainer
Gilled
A white Agaricus that flushes instant bright chrome-yellow when the cap margin is rubbed or the stem base is cut, and carries a distinctive ink-like odour. Young caps often have a flat-topped, squared-off profile.
Spore print · Dark chocolate-brown
Golden Waxcap
Gilled
A clean lemon to golden-yellow waxcap with a viscid smooth cap and a slightly greasy yellow stem, one of the commonest and brightest species in autumn turf.
Spore print · White
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
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
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)
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
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
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
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
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
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