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The living fungi library · 108 species

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Field marks, dangerous lookalike checks, cited safety notes, and recent reviewed observations for the map's current species.

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Current catalogue

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These pages teach what to examine. They cannot confirm edibility.

Choice edible

Morel

Morchella esculenta

A spring mushroom recognized by a pitted cap and a single hollow interior, with dangerous false-morel confusion to rule out.

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Choice edible

Lobster Mushroom

Hypomyces lactifluorum

A firm host mushroom transformed by a red-orange parasitic fungus that erases most of the original gills.

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Edible

Shaggy Mane

Coprinus comatus

A tall white ink cap whose shaggy cylinder dissolves from the rim into black liquid as it matures.

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Choice edible

Lion's Mane

Hericium erinaceus

A white hardwood fungus formed from one cushion of long dangling teeth, without a cap, gills, or stem.

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Poisonous

Fly Agaric

Amanita muscaria

The iconic red or yellow Amanita with white veil warts, white gills, a ring, and a bulbous base marked by scaly rings.

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Deadly

Destroying Angel

Amanita bisporigera

A deadly white Amanita pattern defined by free white gills, a ring, white spores, and a buried sack-like volva.

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Poisonous

False Morel

Gyromitra esculenta

A spring mushroom with brain-like folds and a chambered interior that overlaps true-morel habitat and can cause severe poisoning.

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Edible

Giant Puffball

Calvatia gigantea

A stemless white ball that can grow larger than a basketball and must be cut open before any culinary consideration.

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Not a food mushroom

Turkey Tail

Trametes versicolor

Thin flexible fans with velvety multicolored bands above and a dense white pore surface below.

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Choice edible

Western Matsutake

Tricholoma murrillianum

A dense white pine mushroom with brown cap fibers, a sheathing ring, firm buried base, and a strong spicy odor.

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Edible

Meadow Mushroom

Agaricus campestris

A white grassland Agaricus whose free gills mature from pink to chocolate brown and whose base has no volva.

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Choice edible

Black Trumpet

Craterellus cornucopioides

A thin charcoal funnel that is hollow to the base, with a smooth to faintly wrinkled gray outer surface and no gills.

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Deadly

Death Cap

Amanita phalloides

A deadly olive, bronze, yellow, or pale Amanita with free white gills, a ring, white spores, and a buried sack-like volva.

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Deadly

Deadly Galerina

Galerina marginata

A small brown wood-growing mushroom with rusty gills and spores, a fragile ring zone, and potentially fatal amatoxins.

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Poisonous

Common Earthball

Scleroderma citrinum

A firm yellow-brown ball with a thick cracked rind and a purple-black interior that distinguishes it from edible-stage puffballs.

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Edible with caution

Common Ink Cap

Coprinopsis atramentaria

Smooth gray-brown clustered caps that dissolve into black ink and can trigger a severe alcohol reaction.

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Choice edible

Spring King Bolete

Boletus rex-veris

A western spring porcini with a brown cap, thick netted stem, white-to-yellow pores, and little or no blue staining.

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Edible with caution

Aspen Bolete

Leccinum insigne

An orange-capped bolete under aspen, with pale pores and a white stem covered in dark scabers.

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Not a food mushroom

Hemlock Reishi

Ganoderma tsugae

A lacquered red-brown shelf on hemlock and other conifers, prized for tea and extracts rather than as a food mushroom.

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Not a food mushroom

Chaga

Inonotus obliquus

A black, cracked, charcoal-like canker on birch trunks whose rusty orange interior is used for tea.

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Edible

Jelly Ear

Auricularia auricula-judae

A rubbery, ear-shaped brown jelly fungus on dead hardwood, especially elder, eaten widely after cooking.

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Edible

Dryad's Saddle

Cerioporus squamosus

A large spring polypore with feathery brown scales, big angular pores, and a fresh watermelon-rind smell.

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Choice edible

Candy Cap

Lactarius rubidus

A small orange-brown Pacific coast milk cap with watery latex and a maple-syrup aroma that intensifies when dried.

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Choice edible

Yellowfoot

Craterellus tubaeformis

A slender brown-capped chanterelle relative with a hollow yellow stem and gray forked ridges, fruiting late into winter.

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Edible with caution

Wood Blewit

Collybia nuda

A lilac-violet mushroom of autumn leaf litter and compost with a fruity smell and a pinkish-buff spore print.

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Choice edible

Parasol Mushroom

Macrolepiota procera

A towering meadow mushroom with a scaly brown cap up to 30 cm, a snakeskin-patterned stem, and a movable double ring.

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Edible with caution

Shaggy Parasol

Chlorophyllum rhacodes

A shaggy-scaled parasol of conifer litter and compost whose cut flesh stains saffron then reddish brown.

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Edible with caution

Honey Mushroom

Armillaria mellea

Dense clusters of honey-colored caps on wood and roots, linked by black bootlace strands under bark.

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Edible

Wine Cap

Stropharia rugosoannulata

A large burgundy mushroom of wood chips and gardens with a ridged cogwheel ring and purple-black gills.

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Choice edible

Pine Bolete

Boletus pinophilus

A porcini with a wine-red to mahogany cap, found under pines and spruce across Europe.

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Choice edible

Summer Bolete

Boletus reticulatus

An early porcini with a pale, often cracked brown cap and a fine white net over the entire stem.

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Edible

Horse Mushroom

Agaricus arvensis

A large white grassland Agaricus with an aniseed smell, a cogwheel ring, and gills maturing to chocolate brown.

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Edible with caution

The Blusher

Amanita rubescens

A reddish-brown Amanita with pale warts whose flesh and bruises turn pinkish red, especially at the stem base.

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Choice edible

Caesar's Mushroom

Amanita caesarea

A brilliant orange Amanita with yellow gills and a large white sac volva, prized in southern Europe since Roman times.

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Edible

Pig's Ear

Gomphus clavatus

A purple, club-shaped relative of chanterelles with a wrinkled, veined underside, declining in parts of Europe.

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Edible

Golden Oyster

Pleurotus citrinopileatus

Bright yellow clusters of oyster mushrooms on hardwood; native to East Asia and invasive in North American forests.

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Edible

Mica Cap

Coprinellus micaceus

Small tawny bell-shaped caps sprinkled with glittering granules, in dense clusters on wood.

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Edible

Aborted Entoloma

Entoloma abortivum

Whitish, lumpy masses beside gray gilled Entoloma mushrooms, formed where Entoloma and honey mushrooms interact.

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Choice edible

Matsutake

Tricholoma matsutake

A prized, spicy-smelling mushroom of red pine forests in East Asia and northern Europe with a sheathing ring.

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Poisonous

Panther Cap

Amanita pantherina

A brown Amanita with pure white warts, a striate margin, and a rimmed bulb, more toxic than the fly agaric.

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Not a food mushroom

False Death Cap

Amanita citrina

A pale lemon to white Amanita with a large rimmed bulb and a raw-potato smell, easily confused with the death cap.

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Poisonous

Sulphur Tuft

Hypholoma fasciculare

Dense clusters of sulphur-yellow caps with greenish gills on stumps, bitter tasting and poisonous.

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Poisonous

Fool's Funnel

Collybia rivulosa

A small, frosty-white lawn mushroom with decurrent gills that contains muscarine and grows beside fairy rings.

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Deadly

Deadly Webcap

Cortinarius rubellus

An orange-brown webcap of wet conifer forests containing orellanine, which causes delayed kidney failure.

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Poisonous

Brown Roll-rim

Paxillus involutus

A brown mushroom with a strongly inrolled rim and soft gills that bruise brown, once eaten but now known to be dangerous.

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Poisonous

Devil's Bolete

Rubroboletus satanas

A stout pale-capped bolete with red pores and a red-netted stem, found on chalky soils under oak and beech.

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Not a food mushroom

Bitter Bolete

Tylopilus felleus

A king-bolete lookalike with pinkish pores, a dark net on the stem, and a taste so bitter it ruins a meal.

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Poisonous

Yellow Stainer

Agaricus xanthodermus

A white Agaricus that instantly stains chrome yellow when scratched, especially at the cut stem base, and smells of ink.

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Not a food mushroom

False Chanterelle

Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca

An orange mushroom with thin, crowded, repeatedly forked true gills, often mistaken for a chanterelle.

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Poisonous

Ghost Fungus

Omphalotus nidiformis

A creamy, fan-shaped Australian mushroom that glows green in the dark and causes vomiting when eaten.

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Deadly

Ringed Conecap

Pholiotina rugosa

A small brown lawn and mulch mushroom with a movable ring and rusty spores that contains deadly amatoxins.

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Poisonous

Livid Pinkgill

Entoloma sinuatum

A large pale gray-buff mushroom with yellowish gills that turn pink, a mealy smell, and a pink spore print.

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Poisonous

Angel Wings

Pleurocybella porrigens

Thin, pure white, ear-shaped caps on rotting conifer wood, once eaten and now linked to fatal brain illness.

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Not a food mushroom

Artist's Conk

Ganoderma applanatum

A large, woody, perennial bracket with a dull crusty top and a white pore surface that bruises brown when scratched.

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Not a food mushroom

Birch Polypore

Fomitopsis betulina

A smooth, pale, kidney-shaped bracket that grows only on birch, carried by Ötzi the Iceman 5,300 years ago.

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Not a food mushroom

Tinder Fungus

Fomes fomentarius

A gray, hoof-shaped perennial bracket on birch and beech, used for millennia to carry fire.

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Not a food mushroom

Common Stinkhorn

Phallus impudicus

A white spongy stalk topped with foul-smelling olive slime that hatches from a buried egg and attracts flies.

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Not a food mushroom

Collared Earthstar

Geastrum triplex

A puffball whose outer skin splits into star-shaped rays, often with a saucer-like collar under the spore sac.

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Not a food mushroom

Scarlet Waxcap

Hygrocybe coccinea

A brilliant scarlet waxcap of old, unfertilized grasslands, where it signals valuable habitat.

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Identification is a process, not a picture match

Confirm cap, underside, stem, base, interior, spore print, substrate, and habitat. Use multiple reputable sources and a qualified local expert before considering consumption.

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