Field Guide

Mushrooms

Showing 1 - 6 of 6 results
Photo of onusta amanita mushroom closeup on cap showing gray-tan scalelike warts
Onusta Amanita (Loaded Lepidella; Gunpowder Lepidella)
Amanita onusta
The onusta amanita has a grayish white cap with grayish brown warts that are often erect, and a long stalk with grayish brown warts. It grows on the ground in mixed woods.
Photo of silvery-violet cort, a gray, gilled mushroom, dug up and lying on grass
Silvery-Violet Cort
Cortinarius alboviolaceus
The silvery-violet cort has a dry, grayish violet cap, pale violet gills, a club-shaped stalk, and a cobwebby partial veil. It's found in mixed woods, singly or in groups of many.
a row of little brown, umbrella-shaped mushrooms along a decaying log
Little Brown Mushrooms
Various species of confusingly similar mushrooms
Like the LGBs (“little gray birds”) of the birdwatchers, this is a catchall category. It includes all the small to medium-sized, hard-to-identify brownish mushroom with spores of all colors. There are many hundreds of species that fit this description!
Photo of a blusher, a tan gilled mushroom, showing injured spot turning rust red
Amanitas
Amanita spp. (about 600 species, worldwide)
This large group of mushrooms accounts for 90 percent of mushroom-related deaths, so every mushroom hunter should be familiar with amanitas. They contain one of the deadliest poisons found in nature!
Photo of cluster of bleeding mycenas, small, capped, reddish mushrooms
Bleeding Mycena
Mycena haematopus
The bleeding mycena is a small mushroom with a bell-shaped, reddish brown cap that bleeds dark red when cut. It usually grows in clusters on decaying wood.
Photo of an aging grisette mushroom that is flat and tan on top and white below
Grisette
Amanita vaginata
The grisette has a gray cap with white patches and a radially grooved margin, and a stalk with a large, white, saclike cup around the base. It's found on the ground in open woods and in grass near trees.
See Also
Photo of several pinesap plants showing multiple flowers per stalk.
Pinesap (False Beech Drops)
Monotropa hypopitys
Pinesap is a plant that puts the "wild" in wildflower! It lacks chlorophyll, so its roots connect to fungi underground and absorb nutrients from the fungi.
Picture of a patch of filamentous green algae floating in a stream.
Filamentous Green Algae (Pond Scum)
Cladophora, Pithophora, and Spirogyra spp., and others
Filamentous green algae forms green, cottony masses that are free-floating or attached to rocks, debris, or other plants.
Photo of several Indian pipe plants with flowers, rising out of leaf litter.
Indian Pipe
Monotropa uniflora
Indian pipe lacks chlorophyll, so it is white, not green. Below ground, its roots join with fungi that connect to tree roots. This plant, then, takes nourishment indirectly from the trees.

About Mushrooms in Missouri

Mushrooms are a lot like plants, but they lack chlorophyll and have to take nutrients from other materials. Mushrooms are neither plants nor animals. They are in a different kingdom — the fungi. Fungi include the familiar mushroom-forming species, plus the yeasts, molds, smuts, and rusts.

Always be cautious when eating edible mushrooms. Be absolutely sure of the ID, and only eat a small amount the first time you try it to avoid a reaction..