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 “Tumor of a plant (Gall)”
Western Gall Rust
Other Fungi
A rust of hard pines that swells branches into round woody galls which split each spring and release clouds of bright orange spores.
Spore print · Not applicable (orange spore masses)
Azalea Leaf Gall
Other Fungi
A basidiomycete that converts azalea leaves and buds into thick, fleshy, pale green to pink bladder-like galls. Mature galls develop a chalky white bloom of basidiospores before browning and hardening.
Spore print · White (surface bloom)
Plantpot Dapperling
Gilled
A vivid lemon-yellow little parasol that appears overnight in the compost of houseplants and greenhouse pots. Its powdery cap opens into a deeply pleated disc on a slender yellow stem and collapses within a day.
Spore print · White
Horn of Plenty
Other Fungi
A thin-fleshed, hollow, grey-black trumpet that grows in dense troops among leaf litter. Its funnel shape, near-smooth outer surface and lack of any true gills make it distinctive.
Spore print · White to pale cream
Hen of the Woods
Polypores
A large rosette of many overlapping grey-brown spoon-shaped caps rising from a branched white stalk at the foot of oaks, with a white pore surface running down the branches.
Spore print · White
Old Man of the Woods
Boletes
An unmistakable bolete covered in coarse, shaggy, blackish-grey pyramidal scales, with a woolly stipe and white flesh that turns red and then black when cut. Its spore print is nearly black.
Spore print · Blackish-brown to black
Chicken of the Woods
Polypores
A vivid orange and sulphur-yellow bracket fungus forming large overlapping tiers on tree trunks, with a bright yellow pore surface and thick, soft flesh that fades to chalky white with age.
Spore print · White
Conifer Chicken of the Woods
Polypores
Vivid orange overlapping shelves with a sulphur-yellow pore surface, fruiting on conifers in western North America. Substrate is the main character separating it from its hardwood-dwelling relatives.
Spore print · White
White-pored Chicken of the Woods
Polypores
Forms a broad rosette of soft salmon-orange fans on the ground at the base of oaks, distinguished from its relatives by a white to cream pore surface rather than a yellow one.
Spore print · White
Bulbous Honey Fungus
Gilled
A honey fungus of deciduous woodland recognised by its distinctly swollen club-shaped stipe base, fine yellowish cap scales and fragile cobwebby yellow-fringed ring.
Spore print · White
Cedar-Apple Rust
Other Fungi
A rust fungus that alternates between junipers, where it forms brown galls that push out orange gelatinous horns in spring rain, and apples, where it makes bright orange leaf spots.
Spore print · Not applicable
Flowerpot Parasol
Gilled
A slender, brilliant sulphur-yellow mushroom that appears overnight in the pots of houseplants and in greenhouse beds, with a powdery pleated cap and a fragile ringed stem. It collapses within a day, often before anyone notices it opened.
Spore print · White
Rose Black Spot
Other Fungi
A leaf-inhabiting sac fungus that marks rose foliage with sooty black spots bearing radiating, feathered margins and yellow haloes. Affected leaves yellow and drop from the base of the plant upward.
Spore print · Not applicable
Corn Smut
Other Fungi
A smut fungus that turns maize kernels, tassels and leaves into swollen silvery-grey galls which rupture to release masses of sooty black spores. It occurs wherever maize is grown.
Spore print · Not applicable
Gooseberry Brittlegill
Gilled
A slender purple-wine brittlegill of spruce plantations, recognised by its purple-flushed stipe, pale cream gills and a distinct fruity gooseberry smell.
Spore print · Pale cream
Torn Fibrecap
Gilled
A small, drab, grey-brown fibrecap whose cap surface breaks up into ragged torn fibrils and scales. A pioneer of sandy tracks, heathland and young conifer plantations.
Spore print · Dull brown
Hebeloma mesophaeum
Gilled
A small two-toned Hebeloma with a dark brown cap centre, a paler margin hung with white veil fibrils, and a faint veil zone on the stipe. A pioneer of disturbed and planted ground.
Spore print · Snuff-brown
Common Rustgill
Gilled
An abundant orange-tawny wood-rotter of conifer plantations, identified by its smooth dry cap, yellow gills that become freckled with rust spots, and rusty spore print.
Spore print · Rusty brown
Desert Truffle
Other Fungi
A hypogeous ascomycete of arid steppe that forms pale, smooth-skinned tubers among sun-rose plants, with a reddish-brown gleba veined in white.
Spore print · Not applicable (hypogeous)
Dripping Bonnet
Gilled
A minute pale bonnet whose thin stem is sheathed in a thick, glassy layer of slime far wider than the stalk itself. It fruits on twigs, bramble stems and fallen plant debris.
Spore print · White
Field Bird's Nest
Other Fungi
A small grey goblet with a widely flaring, often wavy mouth and a smooth inner wall, holding a few unusually large lead-grey discs. It favours open ground and plant litter rather than deep woodland.
Spore print · Not applicable (spores held in peridioles)
Primrose Brittlegill
Gilled
A dark purple pine-wood brittlegill named for its primrose-yellow gills, which contrast sharply with the violet-flushed stipe. It is one of the most consistent brittlegills of sandy conifer plantations.
Spore print · Pale cream
Juniper-Hawthorn Rust
Other Fungi
A two-host rust fungus that forms small brown galls with orange jelly horns on juniper in spring, then orange leaf spots with tubular outgrowths on hawthorn.
Spore print · Not applicable
Darwin's Fungus
Cups & Discs
A globe-shaped orange ascomycete that erupts in clusters from woody galls on southern beech trees in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, its surface dimpled with honeycomb-like cups.
Spore print · White