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 Greasy Toughshank

Clustered Toughshank

Gilled

Crowded tufts of slim pale mushrooms whose long stems, densely coated in fine white hairs, fuse together at a common base buried in the leaf litter.

Spore print · White

Butter Cap

Gilled

A late-season litter mushroom recognised by its greasy-feeling cap, crowded white gills, distinctly club-shaped stem base and pale pinkish spore print.

Spore print · Pale pinkish cream

Spotted Toughshank

Gilled

A firm, long-stemmed woodland mushroom whose cream cap and crowded pale gills develop scattered rust-coloured blotches as it ages. Common in conifer plantations and on heathland litter.

Spore print · Pale pinkish cream

Russet Toughshank

Gilled

One of the commonest litter mushrooms of oak woods: a smooth russet-brown cap on a slim, tough, hollow stem, fruiting in troops for much of the year.

Spore print · White to pale cream

Spindleshank

Gilled

Tough, clustered mushrooms at the foot of oaks, with rust-spotted gills and a distinctive grooved, spindle-shaped stem that tapers into a twisted root.

Spore print · White

Grey Milkcap

Grey Milkcap

Gilled

A thin-fleshed lilac-grey milkcap of damp birch woods whose white latex dries grey-green on the gills. The greasy, smooth cap and grey-staining pale gills are its key marks.

Spore print · Pale cream

Grass-green Russula

Gilled

An evenly grass-green brittlegill of birch woods, distinguished by its smooth unpatched cap, cream-ochre spore print and rusty spotting on ageing gills.

Spore print · Cream to pale ochre

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

Grey Coral

Corals & Clubs

A small, ash-grey to lilac-grey branched coral of woodland soil, with rather thick, blunt-tipped branches and a white spore print.

Spore print · White

Gray Bolete

Gray Bolete

Boletes

A grey-capped hardwood bolete with a whitish stipe wrapped in a bold dark net and a yellow patch at the very base. Pale pores stain brownish where handled.

Spore print · Olive-brown to brown

Grey Knight

Grey Knight

Gilled

A soft grey knight of pine woods, with a dry cap densely covered in fine radiating fibrils and scales, white sinuate gills and a brittle white stipe. It is the commonest of a confusing group of grey Tricholoma species.

Spore print · White

Grey Puffball

Puffballs

A small round grassland puffball whose white papery outer skin flakes away to expose a smooth lead-grey inner ball. It detaches from the soil and rolls about, scattering spores from a torn apical mouth.

Spore print · Purplish-brown

Grey Spotted Amanita

Grey Spotted Amanita

Gilled

A robust European amanita with a grey-brown cap bearing flat grey veil patches, a grooved pendulous ring, and a swollen, grey-banded stem base that is not sharply rimmed.

Spore print · White

Grey Veiled Amanita

Grey Veiled Amanita

Gilled

A conifer-loving amanita with a smooth greyish-brown cap washed with purple, a grey membranous ring, and an abrupt rounded bulb finished with a sharp rim.

Spore print · White

Violet-gray Bolete

Boletes

A handsome bolete with a deep violet-purple cap and matching stipe, white pores that age pink, and unchanging white flesh. A common oak associate in eastern North America.

Spore print · Pinkish-brown

Butter Waxcap

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

Charcoal Burner

Charcoal Burner

Gilled

A common woodland brittlegill with a variably purple, green and slate-grey cap, unique in the genus for gills that are soft, greasy and flexible rather than brittle and shattering.

Spore print · White

Silky Rosegill

Silky Rosegill

Gilled

A tall pale mushroom of compost and cultivated ground with a slightly greasy grey cap, free gills that turn salmon pink, no ring, and a large white sac at the stem base.

Spore print · Pink to salmon pink

Crimson Waxcap

Crimson Waxcap

Gilled

The largest of the red waxcaps, with a deep blood-crimson greasy cap, thick waxy yellow-red gills and a fibrous streaky stipe that is distinctly white at the very base.

Spore print · White

Northern Milkcap

Gilled

A large, greasy grey-violet milkcap of northern birch and spruce forests, with white latex that dries greyish or greenish on the pale gills. It is one of the most abundant Lactarius species in Fennoscandia and the boreal belt.

Spore print · Pale cream to pale yellow

Golden Waxcap

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

Rooting Shank

Gilled

A tall, slender woodland mushroom with a wrinkled, greasy ochre cap, widely spaced white gills and a long tapering stem that continues underground as a deep root-like tail.

Spore print · White

Stubble Rosegill

Gilled

A large greasy-capped mushroom of disturbed rich ground, with free gills that turn deep salmon pink and a stipe seated in a conspicuous white sac-like volva but with no ring at all.

Spore print · Salmon pink

Variable Webcap

Gilled

A heavy-bodied webcap with a slightly greasy grey-brown cap, violet-tinted young gills and a swollen club-shaped stem base. It forms mycorrhizal partnerships with spruce and pine in northern and montane woodland.

Spore print · Rusty brown