Community find

Deer Mushroom

Pluteus cervinus

Group

gilled mushroom

Spore print

Salmon pink to brownish-pink.

Size

Cap diameter 3-12 cm; stipe 5-10 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm thick.

Season

Typically found from late spring through late fall.

Habitat

Grows on rotting logs, stumps, and wood chips of both deciduous and coniferous trees.

Distribution

Widely distributed throughout North America and Europe.

Key characteristics

Brown to grayish-brown cap, often radical-streaked or slightly wrinkled over the center, with free pinkish-brown gills and a pale stipe that lacks a ring or volva.

Fruiting body

Cap is 3-12 cm wide, convex to flat, often with a slight central bump (umbo); surface is smooth to finely fibrillose. Gills are crowded, free from the stipe, white when young, turning pinkish-salmon as spores mature. Stipe is 5-10 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm thick, solid, white to gray-brown, and relatively brittle.

How to recognise it

Look for the pink spore print, free gills (not touching the stem), and its characteristic growth directly on decaying wood.

Look-alikes

Megacollybia rodmanii (Platterful Mushroom) which has attached gills and white spores; other Pluteus species which may require microscopy for definitive ID.

Ecological role

Saprophytic, acting as a primary decomposer of dead wood and organic matter in forests.

Notes

The genus name 'Pluteus' is Latin for a pent-house or shed-like structure, while 'cervinus' means deer-colored, referring to the brown cap. Microscopically, the cystidia (cells on the gill surface) often have characteristic 'antlers' or horns.