Identify

Mushrooms

A short list of beginner-safer species, and the deadly look-alikes to rule out first.

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Mushrooms: Mushroom misidentification can be fatal. Cook all wild mushrooms and try a small amount first.

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In season

Hazard level

Identify these (7)

Caution

Chanterelles

Cantharellus spp.

Vase-shaped, fruity-smelling mushrooms with blunt false gills. Look-alikes cause serious illness.

Caution

Chicken of the woods

Laetiporus sulphureus / Laetiporus cincinnatus

Bright orange and yellow shelf fungus on wood. Beginner-friendly, but some people react even when correctly identified.

Hen of the woods

Grifola frondosa

Gray-brown ruffled cluster at the base of oaks in fall.

Lion's mane

Hericium erinaceus / H. americanum / H. coralloides

White mass of hanging spines with no gills or cap. No toxic look-alikes in the eastern U.S.

Caution

Morels

Morchella spp.

Spring honeycomb-capped mushrooms that are hollow inside. False morels look similar and can be deadly.

Caution

Oyster mushroom

Pleurotus ostreatus / P. pulmonarius

Shelf-like, gray-tan mushrooms with gills running down to the wood. Must be separated from a few look-alikes.

Turkey tail

Trametes versicolor

Thin, banded, leathery fans on dead hardwood. Too tough to eat; used simmered as a tea.

Deadly and toxic look-alikes (2)

Deadly

False morels

Gyromitra spp.

Toxic spring mushrooms with brainlike caps that fruit at the same time as true morels.

Toxic

Jack-o'-lantern mushroom

Omphalotus illudens

Toxic orange mushroom that causes severe stomach illness. Commonly mistaken for chanterelles and sometimes other orange or oyster-like mushrooms.

Educational reference only. Never eat a wild plant or mushroom based on a website or app. Confirm with an experienced forager, your local extension office, or a mycological club. Poison Control (US): 1-800-222-1222. Call 911 for severe symptoms.