About KnowTheSpore
KnowTheSpore is a mushroom reference that puts safety first.
We write every page so a curious beginner and a seasoned forager can both trust it, because one wrong mushroom can put someone in the hospital.
Our mushroom profiles today
These numbers are counted from our database each time this page loads, so they change when we add or correct a profile.
94published mushroom profiles
407distinct sources cited across those profiles
0edible profiles without a lookalike section
Mushrooms leave less room for error than almost any other food we could write about. If you get one identification wrong, you or someone you cook for can end up in the hospital, or worse.
That risk shapes every page on this site, and it leads to one plain rule. If you are unsure what a mushroom is, leave the mushroom out of your meal.
Why we lead with safety
Most food writing can be a little wrong and cost you nothing worse than a dull dinner, but mushrooms give no such margin. The distance between a choice edible and a deadly death cap can be a ring on the stem or a cup at the base. If you miss that feature, the pan will not save you, because the worst toxins survive cooking, drying, and freezing.
So we treat every edibility call as a safety call. Our safety pages name the dangerous lookalikes and the sources behind each statement, and they spell out the limits of identifying a mushroom from a screen. When the sources disagree, we rate down and say why.
Three readers, one standard
You might be checking a mushroom in the yard or planning a day of foraging. Either way, start with the safety facts and take any uncertain identification to an expert.
The worried parent
You found a mushroom in the yard and need to know, fast, if it could harm a child or a dog. Our pages give you the emergency contacts and explain how to keep children and pets away from mushrooms nobody has identified.
The forager
You want to add species to your basket safely. We give you the field marks and the lookalikes that separate a prize from a hospital trip.
The cook and grower
You want flavor and a home harvest. We cover cultivation, cooking, and substitutes, and every page starts from a mushroom you can trust.
Six ways to explore mushrooms
These sections take you from recognizing a mushroom and understanding its risks to planning a forage, growing a crop, and cooking your harvest. The medicinal section sets the research beside the claims on the label.
Identify
Feature-by-feature ID and the lookalikes that send foragers to the hospital.
ExploreEdibility & Safety
Edibility ratings from choice edible to poisonous, with preparation cautions and dangerous lookalikes.
ExploreForaging
The rules, seasons, and field skills for picking without gambling.
ExploreGrowing
Grow gourmet mushrooms at home, from substrate to harvest.
ExploreCooking
How to clean, cook, and pair every edible species safely.
ExploreMedicinal
What the research actually says about functional mushrooms.
ExploreFrom sources to a page you can check
Name the species
Each profile states the accepted scientific name and family, taken from the field guides and references it cites.
Describe the field marks
We describe the cap, gills or pores, stem, spore print, habitat, and smell from field guides and vetted observations.
Rate conservatively
When sources disagree or a lookalike exists, we rate the species down and flag the risk. Doubt never moves a rating up.
State the limits of remote identification
Each identification and safety page names its sources and states where remote identification stops.
Who writes and checks these pages
The KnowTheSpore team writes every page from the field guides, extension services, poison-control services and studies that page cites. No named mycologist reviews our pages yet, and we will not invent one. When a qualified reviewer checks a page, their name and credentials will appear under its title. Until then, every identification on this site still needs a local expert to confirm it before anyone eats the mushroom.
What you can count on
Three commitments guide every page we publish.
- Safety before the harvest. We would rather tell you to throw a mushroom out than risk a wrong call.
- Sourced, not guessed. Each species profile lists the field guides, poison-control services and studies its statements rest on.
- Corrected when wrong. Spotted a wrong field mark? Tell us on the contact page and we will fix the page.
What you will not find here
You will not find hype here, or guessing dressed up as fact. Edible species can have poisonous lookalikes, so every edible profile names them. When an identification stays uncertain, the page sends you to an expert before any meal. Where a species is risky, we say so plainly and early, so the caution always comes before the recipe.
Read before you forage
The safety disclaimer, editorial policy, and sources pages explain exactly how far this information goes, and where it stops.
Safety disclaimer