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 Conical Brittlestem

Conical Brittlestem

Conical Brittlestem

Gilled

A strikingly tall, thin-stemmed mushroom with a narrow conical cap that dries from dark date-brown to pale tan, its surface set with fine erect bristles visible under a lens.

Spore print · Blackish brown

Common Stump Brittlestem

Common Stump Brittlestem

Gilled

A densely tufted stump mushroom with a date-brown cap that dries pale from the centre outward, brittle hollow white stems, and dark purple-brown spores.

Spore print · Dark purple-brown

Clustered Brittlestem

Clustered Brittlestem

Gilled

A brittlestem that grows in tight bouquets of dozens of slender stems fused at a common base, each carrying a small conical tan cap. The stems are white, hollow and snap cleanly.

Spore print · Dark purple-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

Spring Brittlestem

Spring Brittlestem

Gilled

An early-season brittlestem with a smooth date-brown cap that dries to greyish buff and a slender, fragile white stem. It appears in groups on rich soil under broadleaved trees.

Spore print · Dark brown

Red Edge Brittlestem

Red Edge Brittlestem

Gilled

A delicate brittlestem with a small bell-shaped cap on a long, thread-like white stem, and gills whose edges are flushed pink to reddish. The stem base often tapers into a rooting point.

Spore print · Blackish purple-brown

Common Conecap

Common Conecap

Gilled

A fragile grassland mushroom with a narrow conical tawny cap on a very slender striate stipe, distinguished by its rusty cinnamon-brown spore print.

Spore print · Rusty brown

Milky Conecap

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

Split Fibrecap

Split Fibrecap

Gilled

A slender ochre-brown woodland fibrecap whose sharply umbonate cap splits radially into coarse straw-coloured fibres. One of the commonest and most recognisable members of a large, difficult genus.

Spore print · Dull clay-brown

Blackening Waxcap

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

Persistent Waxcap

Persistent Waxcap

Gilled

A bright yellow to apricot-orange waxcap with a sharply pointed cap that keeps its colour instead of blackening with age.

Spore print · White

Psathyrella aquatica

Psathyrella aquatica

Gilled

A small brown-capped brittlestem remarkable for producing its fruit bodies fully submerged in flowing cold water, first documented in a spring-fed river in Oregon.

Spore print · Dark brown to blackish brown

White Dunce Cap

White Dunce Cap

Gilled

An extremely fragile white to cream conical mushroom of lawns that appears overnight and often collapses by midday, with rusty ochre spores.

Spore print · Rusty ochre-brown

Date Waxcap

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

Star Pinkgill

Star Pinkgill

Gilled

A slender grassland pinkgill named for its distinctive cross-shaped spores, with a conical silky-streaked brown cap and pink gills.

Spore print · Pink

Black Morel

Black Morel

Morels & Allies

A conical spring morel whose pits are arranged in vertical ladder-like rows between ridges that darken to grey, olive or black. Like all true morels it is hollow throughout with the head fused to the stalk.

Spore print · Cream to pale yellow

Entoloma hochstetteri

Entoloma hochstetteri

Gilled

A small, startlingly blue-capped pinkgill of moist southern-hemisphere forests, unmistakable for the metallic indigo colour of its conical cap and slender fibrous stipe.

Spore print · Pink

Pink Waxcap

Pink Waxcap

Gilled

An unmistakable rose-pink to lilac waxcap whose sharply conical cap splits and flares upward like a ballerina's skirt above a white fibrous stem.

Spore print · White

Scarlet Bonnet

Scarlet Bonnet

Gilled

A small bonnet with a coral-pink to scarlet conical cap that fades towards orange-pink with age, carried on a slender pale stem. It fruits among mosses, grasses and conifer needles.

Spore print · White

Liberty Cap

Gilled

A small, slender grassland mushroom with a sharply conical cap ending in a distinct nipple, a separable gelatinous cap skin, a wavy thin stem and a dark purple-brown spore print.

Spore print · Dark purple-brown

Veiled Lady

Veiled Lady

Stinkhorns

The most spectacular stinkhorn, with a delicate white lace veil that unfurls from beneath the conical head and may hang almost to the ground. A tropical and subtropical species of rich soil and bamboo litter.

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

Common Puffball

Common Puffball

Puffballs

A pear- to club-shaped white puffball studded with conical spines that fall away to leave a pockmarked pattern, releasing spores through a pore at the top. It is one of the most frequently encountered woodland puffballs.

Spore print · Olive-brown spore mass

Blue Pinkgill

Blue Pinkgill

Gilled

A small but unmistakable New Zealand mushroom with an intensely blue, conical, pointed cap and pinkish gills that yield a pink spore print. It grows singly or in small groups in wet native forest litter.

Spore print · Pink

Bamboo Fungus

Bamboo Fungus

Stinkhorns

A tropical stinkhorn whose white spongy stalk carries a pitted, slime-covered conical head and, beneath it, a spectacular lacy net that hangs down like a skirt. It erupts from a soft white egg in bamboo litter.

Spore print · Not applicable — olive-brown spore slime