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 Panther Cap

Cinnamon Bracket

Cinnamon Bracket

Polypores

A soft, evenly cinnamon-coloured bracket whose cap, flesh and pores are all the same warm ochre-brown, and which turns brilliant violet where a drop of alkali touches it.

Spore print · White

Aspen Scaber Stalk

Aspen Scaber Stalk

Boletes

A North American scaber stalk of aspen groves, with an orange-brown cap, dark scabers even when young, and pale flesh that greys and takes on lilac tones when cut.

Spore print · Ochre-brown

Pale Brittlestem

Pale Brittlestem

Gilled

A fragile, pale-capped clustering mushroom with a toothed veil fringe on the cap edge, gills that shift from white through grey to purple-brown, and a brittle hollow white stem.

Spore print · Purple-brown

Tiger's Eye

Tiger's Eye

Polypores

A small, thin, leathery funnel-shaped polypore on a slender central stalk, its cap silky and banded in concentric rings of rust, ochre and grey-brown with a brown pore surface underneath.

Spore print · Yellowish brown

Scaly Shield

Scaly Shield

Gilled

A large pale shield mushroom whose whitish cap carries brown fibrillose scales over the centre, with free gills flushing pink and a stout ringless stem. It favours sawdust and mulch.

Spore print · Pink to salmon-pink

Oakbug Milkcap

Oakbug Milkcap

Gilled

An abundant oak-associated milkcap with a dull cinnamon-brown, faintly banded cap and a heavy oily odour. Its creamy white latex does not change colour but dries brownish on the gills.

Spore print · Pale cream with pinkish tint

Pluteus admirabilis

Pluteus admirabilis

Gilled

A very small, delicate golden-yellow shield mushroom with a wrinkled cap centre, a strongly lined margin and free gills that flush pink. It is common on decaying hardwood in eastern North America.

Spore print · Pink to salmon-pink

Tiger Sawgill

Tiger Sawgill

Gilled

A tough little funnel-shaped agaric with a cream cap streaked with dark tiger-like scales, deeply decurrent saw-edged gills and a scaly stem, growing on waterlogged willow and poplar.

Spore print · White

Freckled Dapperling

Freckled Dapperling

Gilled

A stout dapperling of nettle beds and rich ground, its dry ochre-brown cap bristling with erect pyramidal spines that rub off at a touch and its gills forking near the stem.

Spore print · White

Dog Stinkhorn

Dog Stinkhorn

Stinkhorns

A slim, delicate stinkhorn whose tapering pale stalk ends in an orange tip smeared with dark spore slime. It has no separate cap, which distinguishes it from the larger Phallus species.

Spore print · Olive-brown (spores in the slimy gleba)

Cortinarius orellanus

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

Green Skinhead

Green Skinhead

Gilled

An unusual olive-green webcap with a dry, finely felted cap, green gills that rust with age and greenish-yellow flesh. Green is rare among gilled fungi, making it easy to spot.

Spore print · Rusty brown

Lactarius scrobiculatus

Lactarius scrobiculatus

Gilled

A large yellow, zoned milkcap with a shaggy bearded cap margin and a stipe pitted with distinct coloured hollows (scrobicules). Its white latex turns sulphur-yellow within seconds of exposure.

Spore print · Pale cream to pale yellow

The Sickener

The Sickener

Gilled

A vivid scarlet brittlegill of damp conifer woodland and sphagnum, with a shiny cap whose skin peels almost to the centre, pure white gills, a white chalky stem and a white spore print.

Spore print · White

Giant Puffball

Giant Puffball

Puffballs

An unmistakable white sphere that can reach the size of a football or larger, appearing in grassland and hedgerows. It has no stipe, no gills and no cap, and its interior ripens from firm white to a powdery olive-brown spore mass.

Spore print · Olive-brown (spore mass)

Clouded Funnel

Clouded Funnel

Gilled

A stout, pale grey funnel-capped woodland mushroom that troops in long lines and rings through autumn leaf litter, recognised by its bloomed cloudy cap and crowded creamy gills.

Spore print · Pale cream

Silky Pinkgill

Silky Pinkgill

Gilled

A common small brown grassland pinkgill with a silky, strongly hygrophanous cap, farinaceous smell and pink spore print.

Spore print · Pink

Hare's Foot Inkcap

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

Gabled False Morel

Gabled False Morel

Morels & Allies

A spring false morel of eastern hardwood forest whose chestnut-brown cap is folded into two to four broad, flaring lobes with pale wavy margins, sitting on a stout white ribbed stalk.

Spore print · White to pale cream

Devil's Dipstick

Devil's Dipstick

Stinkhorns

A slim, tapering, orange to pinkish stinkhorn with no distinct cap, its pointed upper third coated in dark olive spore slime. It rises from a white egg in mulch and rotting hardwood debris.

Spore print · Not applicable

Dark Fieldcap

Dark Fieldcap

Gilled

A sombre brown woodland fieldcap with a greasy, wrinkling cap and a persistent membranous ring that stains dark from falling spores. It grows on rich, often calcareous soil along shaded woodland paths.

Spore print · Dark brown

Beechwood Sickener

Beechwood Sickener

Gilled

A compact scarlet brittlegill restricted to beech woods, distinguished from its conifer relatives by firmer flesh, a matt cap whose skin peels only part-way, and crowded white gills.

Spore print · White

Birch Milkcap

Birch Milkcap

Gilled

A small tawny orange-brown birch associate with a matt, slightly wrinkled cap and a small pointed umbo. Its scanty white latex slowly turns yellow when smeared on a white tissue.

Spore print · Pale cream

Wood Blewit

Wood Blewit

Gilled

A thick-set, late-season woodland agaric coloured violet throughout when young, with a smooth greasy cap, sinuate lilac gills, a fibrous ringless stem and a pale pink spore print.

Spore print · Pale pink