Field Guide

Mushrooms

Showing 1 - 10 of 17 results
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 beefsteak polypore, a rust-colored bracket fungus growing on tree base
Beefsteak Polypore
Fistulina hepatica
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.
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.
Several cedar-apple rust galls, with inflated telial horns, hanging from a cedar tree
Cedar-Apple Rust
Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae
With their gelatinous orange tentacles, cedar-apple rust galls are one of Missouri’s freakiest sights in spring. Cedar-apple rust is a fungus with a two-part life cycle. Its two unrelated host plants are a juniper, such as eastern red cedar, and a tree in the rose family, especially apple and crabapple.
Photo of a cinnabar polypore, which is a reddish orange bracket fungus
Cinnabar Polypore
Pycnoporus cinnabarinus
The cinnabar polypore is a bracket fungus that is tough, fan-shaped, and bright red-orange above and below. It grows on dead deciduous branches, twigs, and wood, mainly oak.
Photo of coral-pink merulius, pink bracket mushrooms growing on wood
Coral-Pink Merulius
Phlebia incarnata (formerly Merulius incarnatus)
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.
Photo of an elegant stinkhorn mushroom, a pink column covered with brown slime
Elegant Stinkhorn
Mutinus elegans
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.
Photo of cluster of hairy rubber cup mushrooms, cup fungi with orangish centers
Hairy Rubber Cup
Galiella rufa (formerly Bulgaria rufa)
The hairy rubber cup has a reddish to brownish inner surface; the outside is blackish brown and hairy. It grows in clusters on dead deciduous wood.
Photograph of several hexagonal-pored polypores, tan bracket fungi
Hexagonal-Pored Polypore
Polyporus alveolaris (formerly Favolus alveolaris)
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.
Photo of ling chih, a shiny, hard, rust-colored bracket fungus, growing on tree
Ling Chih (Lingzhi; Reishi Mushroom)
Ganoderma sessile (formerly G. lucidum)
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.
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..