Mushrooms
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Pleurotus ostreatus and P. pulmonarius
Description
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.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Crucibulum laeve
Description
Splash cups have small brown cups holding tiny “eggs” that are each attached to the “nest” by a cord. They grow in clusters on dead wood, debris, wood chips, and mulch.
Media
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.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Boletinellus merulioides
Description
The ash tree bolete is a pored mushroom with a brownish, wavy cap, an off-center stalk, and clearly defined pores. It grows scattered on the ground near ash trees.
Media
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.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Ganoderma sessile (formerly G. lucidum)
Description
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.
Media
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.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Laetiporus sulphureus
Description
Sulfur-colored chicken of the woods is an edible fungus with layered, fan-shaped, fleshy caps that are orange on top and sulfur yellow below. It grows in overlapping clusters on stumps, trunks, and logs of dead or dying deciduous trees, and on living trees and buried roots.
Media
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.
Media
Species Types
Scientific Name
Omphalotus illudens (formerly O. olearius)
Description
Jack-o’-lanterns are bright orange to yellowish orange, with sharp-edged gills that descend the stalk. They grow in clusters, at the base of stumps, and from buried roots of oak and other deciduous wood.
See Also
Media
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.
Media
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.
Media
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..