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 “Dryad's Saddle”
Dryad's Saddle
Polypores
A large fan-shaped bracket patterned with concentric brown scales like a pheasant's plumage, set on a short off-centre stem with a black base.
Spore print · White
Felt Saddle
Cups & Discs
A grey, shallow cup raised on an unusually long slender stalk, with fine felt covering both the outer surface and the stem. Its unribbed, downy stalk separates it at a glance from the fluted saddles.
Spore print · White
White Saddle
Cups & Discs
An unmistakable pale ascomycete whose crumpled, saddle-shaped cream head sits on a tall stalk deeply carved into ribs and pockets. It favours the disturbed soil of woodland paths and verges under beech and other broadleaf trees.
Spore print · White
Elastic Saddle
Cups & Discs
A slim, graceful saddle fungus with a buff to greyish two-lobed head balanced on a thin, perfectly smooth stalk. The absence of ribs or flutes on the stem is its most useful distinguishing feature.
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
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
Hooded False Morel
Morels & Allies
An autumn false morel whose tan to dark reddish-brown cap is folded into a two- or three-lobed saddle or mitre rather than a brain. It grows on well-rotted conifer wood and woody debris.
Spore print · White to pale yellowish
Weeping Polypore
Polypores
A massive lumpy bracket at the foot of oak trees, unmistakable when young for the beads of amber liquid that stand all over its buff upper surface.
Spore print · Whitish to pale yellow