Mushroom Appreciation

Nearly every fungus reproduces by releasing spores.

The rooting polypore (Polyporus radicatus) is a stalked polypore that looks like it's growing straight out of bare ground or leaf litter, but it actually fruits from dead hardwood buried underground.

The toxin orellanine is found in several webcap mushrooms in the genus Cortinarius.

The pale brittlestem (Candolleomyces candolleanus) is a widespread and common mushroom in North America that grows near recently dead hardwood trees, their roots, and their stumps.

Muscarine is a poison that a lot of mushrooms make, and it is widely regarded as the first mushroom toxin to be identified.

A fibercap is a small brown mushroom with a cone-shaped cap covered in fine hairs, like a little straw hat.

The Asian beauty fungus (Radulomyces copelandii) looks like a white shag carpet growing out of the cracks of tree bark.

Finding true turkey tail to gather for medicine requires a forager to know the lookalikes and be aware of the top key identification features to verify they've found the real thing.

Most people think of Italy when they think of a truffle, but there are quite a few incredible edible truffle species in North America, too.

Finding the amethyst deceiver (Laccaria amethystina "complex") when it is young and bright purple is a treat.

Mycoremediation is the use of fungi to break down or remove pollution from soil, water, and air.

If you find a mushroom with a stem covered in tiny dark bumps, as if it rolled through ground pepper, it is almost always a scaber stalk bolete (Leccinum sp.).

Coral mushrooms look like something that belongs in a tide pool.

You don’t always have to go out to the forest to find a mushroom; there are tons of urban mushrooms.