Mycorrhizal Mushrooms
Mycorrhizal mushrooms live in a quiet trade with trees. They swap water and minerals for sugar, and that partnership is why so many of them resist the farm and reward the forager.
Beautiful Clavaria
Ramaria formosaBeautiful clavaria is a branching coral fungus with a whitish base, salmon-pink branches, and lemon-yellow…
Bitter Beech Bolete
Caloboletus calopusBitter beech bolete pairs a pale cap with yellow blue-bruising pores and a yellow-to-red netted stem. That…
Bitter Bolete
Tylopilus felleusThe bitter bolete will not hurt you and it will cost you dinner. It is not poisonous, and it is bitter…
Bitter Poisonpie
Hebeloma sinapizansBitter poisonpie is a large clay-brown Hebeloma with rusty spores, a coarse scaley ringless stem, and radish…
Black Truffle
Tuber melanosporumPérigord black truffle is a winter-fruiting underground fungus with black polygonal warts and dark flesh…
Black Trumpet
Craterellus cornucopioidesBlack trumpet is a thin, hollow, dark funnel with no true gills and a pale fertile outer surface. Region…
Blood-Red Webcap
Cortinarius sanguineusBlood-red webcap is a small conifer-woodland Cortinarius colored deep red across cap, young gills, stem, and…
Booted Amanita
Amanita multisquamosaBooted amanita is a pale eastern North American Amanita with a darker cap center, white veil patches, a…
Brawny Bolete
Imperator torosusBrawny bolete is a rare massive European bolete with yellow-to-red pores, a yellow and red netted stem, and…
Bronze Bolete
Boletus aereusBronze bolete is a dark-capped Mediterranean porcini with fine pale pores, a netted stout stem, and thick…
Brown Roll-Rim
Paxillus involutusBrown roll-rim is a poisonous mushroom group with two different clinical concerns. Gastrointestinal illness…
Burnt Knight
Tricholoma ustaleBurnt knight is a brown, wet-sticky, white-spored Tricholoma with notched pale gills that develop brown spots…
Caesar's Mushroom
Amanita caesareaCaesar's mushroom is the exception people quote at anybody who says never eat an Amanita, and the exception…
Chanterelle
Cantharellus cibariusA chanterelle is worth learning because its best edible traits are also its safety checks. Look for blunt…
Copper Roll Rim
Paxillus cuprinusThe copper roll rim is one of the mushrooms that used to be called brown roll rim. Molecular work published…
Deadly Webcap
Cortinarius rubellusDeadly webcap is a tawny, pointed webcap that contains orellanine. The defining danger is delayed acute…
Death Cap
Amanita phalloidesA possible death cap ingestion is an emergency before the species is certain. For prevention, inspect the…
Destroying Angel
Amanita bisporigeraA destroying angel is white from cap to spore print, which is exactly why it gets picked. Check for free…
False Death Cap
Amanita citrinaThe name is a warning about your eyes rather than a rating of the mushroom. A false death cap is called that…
Fly Agaric
Amanita muscariaEurasian fly agaric is the scarlet Amanita with loose white veil patches, white free gills, a hanging ring…
Gemmed Amanita
Amanita gemmataThe gemmed amanita is a pale yellow woodland mushroom that is poisonous, and that is the easy part. The hard…
Hedgehog Mushroom
Hydnum repandumThe hedgehog is the mushroom you can identify with a thumb. Turn one over and the underside is covered in…
Matsutake
Tricholoma matsutakeThe matsutake is sold by smell. A strong spicy cinnamon and pine scent is what makes it the most valuable…
Morel
Morchella esculentaA morel is a spring edible with a strict safety routine. The lengthwise hollow test comes before cleaning…
Panther Cap
Amanita pantherinaEuropean panther cap combines a brown, white-warted cap with white free gills, a fragile ring, and a bulb…
Porcini
Boletus edulisA defensible *Boletus edulis* identification combines several characters rather than trusting a brown cap or…
Saffron Milk Cap
Lactarius deliciosusThe saffron milk cap does three things that read as spoilage to anyone meeting it for the first time, and all…
Slippery Jack
Suillus luteusThe slippery jack is named for the one part of it you throw away. The glutinous skin on the cap is what…
Sulphur Knight
Tricholoma sulphureumYou will smell this mushroom before you reach it. The sulphur knight carries a strong smell of coal gas or…
The Blusher
Amanita rubescensThe blusher is eaten across Europe and sits in the genus that kills people. An edible reputation does not…
Gray Morel
Morchella esculentoidesOn this page, gray morel means the young gray form of the eastern yellow morel Morchella esculentoides. Color…
Half-Free Morel
Morchella punctipesThe eastern half-free morel, Morchella punctipes, has a small pitted cap joined partway down a long hollow…
Yellow Knight
Tricholoma equestreYellow knight is a ringless, yellow-gilled Tricholoma of poor sandy ground under conifers. Fatal French case…
Common Earthball
Scleroderma citrinumCommon earthball is a tough yellow-brown fungus with a warted rind and an internal spore mass that becomes…
Deadly Fibrecap
Inosperma erubescensDeadly fibrecap is a pale fibrous woodland mushroom that develops brick-red stains across its cap, gills…
Devil's Bolete
Rubroboletus satanasDevil's bolete is a heavy pale-capped European bolete with red pores, a bulbous netted stem, and flesh that…
Fool's Mushroom
Amanita vernaFool's mushroom, *Amanita verna*, is a deadly white amanita associated with European broadleaf woodland in…
Fool's Webcap
Cortinarius orellanusFool's webcap is a deadly orange-brown woodland mushroom whose gills and fine cobweb veil become rusty as…
Livid Pinkgill
Entoloma sinuatumLivid pinkgill is a large pale *Entoloma* whose broad gills begin yellowish white and mature to salmon pink…
Western Destroying Angel
Amanita ocreataWestern destroying angel is California's native white amatoxin-producing *Amanita*. Its free white gills…
White Chanterelle
Cantharellus subalbidusWhite chanterelle is a dense ivory chanterelle of western North American conifer forests. Its blunt forked…
White Fibrecap
Inocybe geophyllaWhite fibrecap is a small pointed white mushroom whose silky cap, attached gills, ringless stem, and…
Woolly Milkcap
Lactarius torminosusWoolly milkcap is a pink, concentrically zoned birch partner whose young cap margin rolls inward beneath a…
A partnership with living roots
These fungi wrap around or into tree roots and exchange nutrients with the tree. Neither side grows as well alone.
Because the mushroom needs a living host, most mycorrhizal species cannot be cultivated on straw or sawdust like oysters can.
Why foragers care
Many of the great wild edibles are mycorrhizal, including chanterelles and porcini. They return to the same trees year after year, so a good patch is worth remembering.
The catch
Warning
Some of the deadliest mushrooms, the Amanitas, are also mycorrhizal and grow in the same woods. A tree partner is no guarantee of a safe mushroom.