Field Guide

Mushrooms

Showing 1 - 10 of 13 results
Photo of young, golden cluster of ringless honey mushrooms on forest floor
Ringless Honey Mushroom
Desarmillaria caespitosa (formerly Armillaria tabescens)
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.
Photo of orange pinwheel marasmius, tiny, orange, pleated, gilled mushroom
Orange Pinwheel Marasmius
Marasmius siccus
The orange pinwheel marasmius is a tiny mushroom with an orange, bell-shaped, pleated cap, white gills, and a skinny brownish stalk. It grows scattered to many on dead leaves, wood, and twigs of deciduous trees.
Photo of 2 peppery milkies, white, gilled mushrooms, on ground
Peppery Milky
Lactarius piperatus
The peppery milky has a white cap with densely crowded gills. It bleeds white and has a spicy-hot taste. It grows scattered in deciduous woods.
Photo of three voluminous-latex milkies, tan mushrooms, of different sizes
Voluminous-Latex Milky
Lactarius volemus
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.
Yellow Patches
Amanita flavoconia
The cap of this mushroom ranges from orange to yellow, with yellowish patches. The stalk has crumbling patches at the base, and a ring. It grows on the ground in mixed woods.
Photo of oyster mushrooms growing on a tree trunk
Oyster Mushroom
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.
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 velvet foot mushrooms, mature, showing black stems.
Velvet Foot
Flammulina velutipes
The velvet foot, or enoki, has a tawny, sticky cap with whitish gills. The stalk is yellowish above and brownish below. They grow in clusters on deciduous logs.
Photo of multicolor gill polypore, a colorfully zoned bracket fungus on a log
Multicolor Gill Polypore
Lenzites betulina
Multicolor gill polypore is a bracket fungus with a semicircular, tough, hairy, multicolored, zoned cap; beneath, it's white, with leathery, gill-like tubes. It grows on dead deciduous wood.
Photo of several reddening lepiota mushrooms, one showing gills and stem ring.
Reddening Lepiota
Leucoagaricus americanus (Lepiota americana)
The reddening lepiota is a large, reddish brown mushroom with a scaly cap and a ring on the stalk; it bruises dark red. It grows singly or in clusters in mulch piles, waste areas, and 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..