Edible Mushrooms
If you’ve learned how to accurately identify any wild mushroom (including knowing when you don’t know), you’re ready to start sampling some of the best eating Missouri's woods has to offer.
The mushrooms listed below are distinctive in some obvious ways, and they have no dangerous look-alikes. Learn their identifying features so you don’t make an unpleasant (even fatal) mistake. Each entry also has a brief description of the mushroom, including where and when it can be found—very important for accurate identification. If there are reasons for caution, they are noted.
Always use caution!
- Never eat a wild mushroom unless you're absolutely certain of its species. Browse Basic Mushrooming to learn how to identify Missouri's wild mushrooms.
- Never eat raw wild mushrooms. They can be hard to digest, or have irritants that are deactivated by cooking.
- If you’re trying one for the first time, eat only a few (cooked) bites, and save a raw specimen in the fridge for 48 hours. This will be helpful if it turns out you’re allergic or sensitive to it—or if you’ve made a mistake.
- Don’t mix more than one kind of mushroom if you’re trying them for the first time.
Edible Mushrooms in the Field Guide
Boletinellus merulioides (Gyrodon merulioides)
The ash tree bolete is a pored mushroom with a brownish, wavy cap, an off-center stalk, and clearly defined pores. It grows scattered on the ground near ash trees.
The bearded tooth is a beardlike, whitish mass that grows on trunks of living deciduous trees and on fallen trees and logs.
The beefsteak polypore is a thick, semicircular, reddish or rusty, gelatinous bracket with a pinkish yellow underside. It grows at the base of living oaks and on stumps.
Berkeley's polypore grows in rosettes or clusters of fleshy, cream-colored caps, with whitish pores that descend the stalk. Look for them on the ground near the bases of trees.
Morchella angusticeps (formerly M. elata)
The black morel is a prized edible mushroom. It has a honeycombed cap with black to brownish black ridges and yellowish brown pits. It is completely hollow and grows in the spring.
Craterellus cornucopioides (C. fallax)
The black trumpet is dark brown to black, vase- or trumpet-shaped, with a wavy margin and no gills. It grows in groups of few to many on rocky, mossy hillsides in deciduous woods.
Meripilus sumstinei (formerly M. giganteus)
Large circular clusters of many fleshy, grayish yellow, fan-shaped caps, which bruise black when cut or touched. It grows on the ground around deciduous trees, especially oaks.
Lepista nuda (Clitocybe nuda; Tricholoma nudum)
The blewit grows scattered in open areas, in mulch piles, and along paths. All parts of this mushroom—cap, gills and stalk—are violet to tan.
Cantharellaceae (various members of family)
Chanterelles are funnel- or trumpet-shaped and have wavy cap edges. Most are bright orange or yellow, although one, the black trumpet, is brownish black.
Cantharellus cinnabarinus
The cinnabar chanterelle is a small, reddish orange, vase-shaped mushroom with forked ridges on the underside that descend the stalk. It grows in the soil.
Hericium coralloides (formerly H. ramosum)
The comb tooth is a branched, whitish mass on fallen logs and decaying deciduous trees. Its branches are covered with tufts of hanging, toothlike spines.
The common laccaria has a small, brownish pink cap with a central depression; the gills and stalk are a pale pinkish brown. Grows scattered or in groups in poor or sandy soil in mixed woods.
Artomyces pyxidatus (formerly Clavicorona pyxidata)
The crown-tipped coral is a many-branched, coral-like mushroom that is yellowish tan with crownlike tips. It grows on the dead wood of deciduous trees.
The dryad's saddle is a large, fleshy, scaly, yellowish tan bracket fungus with large, yellowish white pores and a short stalk; it smells like watermelon rind. It grows singly or in layers, on living or dead deciduous wood.
Sparassis spatulata (S. herbstii)
The eastern cauliflower mushroom is a large, stalkless, whitish yellow rosette with flattened, wavy, ribbonlike folds. It grows singly, often at the base of decayed oak stumps.
The elegant stinkhorn is a long, tapered, pinkish orange column with a greenish brown, smelly slime covering the top and a white cup around the base. It grows on leafy debris, mulch piles, and rotting wood.
The fairy ring mushroom has a tan to reddish brown, knobbed cap with off-white gills. It grows in grassy areas, lawns, meadows, often in circles called fairy rings.
Pluteus atricapillus (formerly P. cervinus)
The fawn mushroom has a brownish gray cap with whitish to pinkish gills and a whitish stalk. It grows singly or scattered, on dead wood or on the ground over buried wood.
Frost’s bolete has a blood red cap with red pores and a red, webbed stalk; all parts bruise blue. It grows scattered on the ground in oak woods.
The gem-studded puffball is a white, rounded to turban-shaped ball, densely covered with spiny warts, developing a pore at the top. It grows on the ground in open woods, along roads, in waste areas.
Calvatia gigantea (Langermannia gigantea)
The giant puffball is a huge, white, smooth ball with a completely white interior that becomes yellowish green with age. It grows in open pastures, woods, and lawns.
Golden chanterelles have a bright orange to yellow cap with wavy margins; beneath, they're orange-yellow, with forked ridges (not true gills) descending the stalk. They grow in soil.
Morchella punctipes (formerly M. semilibera)
The half-free morel is an excellent edible mushroom. It's completely hollow. It has a honeycombed cap with brownish black ridges and yellowish brown pits. The bottom half hangs free from the whitish stalk.
Hydnum repandum (Dentinum repandum)
The hedgehog has an irregularly shaped, dull orangish tan cap, with spines or "teeth" on its underside. It grows on the ground in mixed woods.
Looking like a ruffled chicken, this edible mushroom grows like large circular bouquet of spoon-shaped caps, each grayish brown on top and white beneath, emerging from a branching, whitish base. It grows on the ground at the base of oak trees.
Polyporus alveolaris (formerly Favolus alveolaris)
This polypore is a reddish yellow, fan-shaped bracket that is scaly on top; the underside has rows of white, six-sided, radially arranged pores. It grows singly or in groups on dead branches of deciduous trees.
The honey mushroom has a honey-colored, sticky cap with black hairs over the center, and a stalk with a whitish ring. It grows in clusters at the bases of trees or stumps, especially oaks, and over buried wood.
Entire mushroom bluish, bleeding blue; then greenish, bruising greenish. The indigo milky grows scattered or in groups on soil in oak and pine woods.
The ling chih is a hard, usually flat, zoned bracket fungus with a reddish brown, shiny top. It grows at the base of living and dead deciduous trees, and also around stumps.
The cap, gills, and stalk of a host mushroom are covered by a finely bumpy, vivid orange to orange-red layer of mold. The gills of the host mushroom can be entirely obscured by the parasite.
The meadow mushroom has a smooth white to light grayish cap and pinkish brown gills. It's found in lawns and other grassy areas.
A favorite Missouri wild edible, morels only appear in the spring. They're very hard to see, but that's part of the fun of hunting them. Learn to identify them, and you can enjoy the hunt, too.
The old man of the woods has a grayish black, shaggy cap with grayish pores and a grayish black, shaggy stalk. It usually grows singly, on the ground in mixed hardwood forests.
Pleurotus ostreatus and P. pulmonarius
Oyster mushrooms are choice edibles with broad, fleshy, whitish, grayish, or tan caps and a stubby, off-center stalk. They grow clustered on stumps, logs, and trunks.
This edible fungus has layered, fan-shaped, fleshy caps that are orange to pale orange on top and white below. It grows in overlapping clusters on stumps, trunks, and logs of dead or dying deciduous trees. It can also be on living trees and buried roots.
The pallid bolete is has a pale cream to buff cap and a stalk with pale cream-yellow pores. It grows singly or in groups of up to several, on the ground in oak woods.
Lycoperdon pyriforme (Morganella pyriformis)
This is a pear-shaped, yellowish brownish puffball with a pore at the top. It grows in large clusters on decaying wood, logs, and stumps.
Ravenel's stinkhorn is a long, whitish column with a greenish, smelly slime covering the top, and a whitish or pinkish cup around the base. It grows on wood debris, rotted stumps, and sawdust, and in deciduous woods.
The resinous polypore is a large, thick, hairy, brownish bracket fungus with a thick margin and whitish pores. It grows on logs and stumps of deciduous trees.
The ringless honey mushroom is honey-colored, with a dry, scaly cap, and lacks a ring on the stalk. It grows in clusters at the bases of trees or stumps, especially of oaks, and over buried wood.
The scarlet waxy cap has a moist, scarlet cap with waxy, reddish yellow gills and an orange-red stalk. It grows on the ground in mixed woods.
The shaggy mane has a white, shaggy, cylindrical cap that turns black and inky. It often grows in large numbers along roadsides and in lawns and disturbed areas.
The smooth chanterelle has a bright orange to yellow cap, wavy margins, and is smooth on the underside. It grows singly or in groups of up to very many in the soil.
This edible fungus has layered, fan-shaped, fleshy caps that are orange-red to orange-yellow on top and sulfur yellow below. It grows in overlapping clusters on stumps, trunks, and logs of dead or dying deciduous trees. It can also be on living trees and buried roots.
Turkey tail grows in clusters of leathery, thin brackets with multicolored zones above and whitish yellow pores below. Look for it on stumps and logs of deciduous trees.
The two-colored bolete has a rose red cap that is yellowish toward the margin. The underside has tiny yellow pores, and the stalk is reddish yellow; all parts slowly bruise blue. Grows singly or in groups of up to several, on the ground under oaks.
The voluminous-latex milky has a velvety, orangish brown cap and stalk, white gills and flesh that exude a milky white latex, and a fishlike odor. It grows scattered in deciduous woods.
Witches' butter is a fungus that looks like small, yellow, irregularly lobed, gelatinous masses. It grows on dead deciduous wood, especially oaks.
Auricularia auricula-judae
The wood ear is a reddish brown to grayish black, rubbery, earlike or cup-shaped mushroom. It usually grows in groups on rotting wood.
Morchella esculentoides (formerly M. esculenta)
The yellow morel is a choice edible mushroom. It has a honeycombed cap with yellow to grayish to tan ridges and pits. It is completely hollow and grows in the spring.
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