Mushrooms
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Auricularia auricula (formerly A. auricula-judae)
Description
The wood ear is a reddish brown to grayish black, rubbery, earlike or cup-shaped mushroom. It usually grows in groups on rotting wood.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Lycogala epidendrum
Description
Wolf's-milk slime looks like little, round, reddish pink balls that exude a pinkish gray paste when popped. It grows in groups on dead wood, especially large logs. It's not really a mushroom!
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Sarcoscypha occidentalis
Description
The stalked scarlet cup is, indeed, a tiny red cup on a tiny white stalk. It grows scattered on fallen wet sticks and branches in damp deciduous woods.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Lycoperdon perlatum
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Boletus bicolor
Description
The two-colored bolete has a rose red cap that is sometimes 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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Fistulina hepatica
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Polyporus alveolaris (formerly Favolus alveolaris)
Description
This polypore is an orange to tan, 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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Phlebia incarnata (formerly Merulius incarnatus)
Description
The coral-pink merulius is a small, semicircular bracket fungus that is pinkish to coral to cream-colored, wrinkled, and veined beneath. It grows on dead logs and stumps of deciduous trees.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Cantharellus cinnabarinus
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Mycena leaiana
Description
The orange mycena is a small, sticky, bell-shaped, orange mushroom. It grows in dense clusters on deciduous wood.
See Also
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Monotropa hypopitys
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Cladophora, Pithophora, and Spirogyra spp., and others
Description
Filamentous green algae forms green, cottony masses that are free-floating or attached to rocks, debris, or other plants.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Monotropa uniflora
Description
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..