Mushrooms
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Hericium erinaceus
Description
The bearded tooth is a beardlike, whitish mass that grows on trunks of living deciduous trees and on fallen trees and logs.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Hydnum repandum (Dentinum repandum)
Description
The hedgehog mushroom has an irregularly shaped, dull orangish tan cap, with spines or "teeth" on its underside. It grows on the ground in mixed woods.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Artomyces pyxidatus (formerly Clavicorona pyxidata)
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Leotia lubrica
Description
The jelly baby is a small mushroom with a gelatinous, orangish yellow stalk and head. It grows in groups on soil in mixed woods.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Calvatia gigantea (Langermannia gigantea)
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Hericium coralloides (formerly H. ramosum)
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Polyporus radicatus
Description
The rooting polypore has a scruffy, tough, yellowish-brown cap with whitish-yellow pores, and a stalk with a long, black, rootlike filament. It usually grows singly, on the ground near stumps or attached to buried roots.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Scleroderma citrinum (Scleroderma aurantium)
Description
The pigskin puffball is a rounded, warted, yellowish brown ball with blackish purple flesh. It grows on the ground, on wood debris, and near trees in woods.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Leucoagaricus americanus (Lepiota americana)
Description
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.
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Species Types
Scientific Name
Amanita thiersii
Description
Thiers amanita has a white, gilled cap, and the stem is large, white, sticky, and shaggy. It grows in lawns, pastures, and prairies, often in fairy rings.
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..