Missouri Mushrooms

Eastern Cauliflower Mushroom

Sparassis spathulata

Description: Large, stalkless, rounded mushrooms with finely wavy, white to pale yellowish, flat-edged, leaf-like branches

Season: July-October;

Habitat: Open oak and sandy oak-pine woods

Edibility: Choice. No poisonous look alikes

Comments: Often rare due to their high moisture requirements. When fresh, whitish with a crisp texture and usually large enough for several meals

Chanterelle

Cantharellus cibarius

Description: Bright yellow-orange cap with wavy edge and yellow-orange, thick ridges descending stalk

Season: June-October

Habitat: On the ground under hardwood trees

Edibility: Choice, with caution

Comments: Beware of confusing it with the poisonous Jack O’Lantern mushroom. The best way to identify a Chanterelle is by its distinctive ridges on the underside of the cap and stalk. Chanterelles DO NOT have gills.

Chicken Mushroom

Laetiporus sulphureus

Description: Single or overlapping clusters of fleshy, smooth, orange-red to orange-yellow caps with sulfur-yellow pores

Season: May-November

Habitat: On stumps, trunks, and logs of hardwood trees and on buried roots

Edibility: Choice

Comments: Tastes like chicken but becomes somewhat indigestible as it ages. Can cause allergic reaction in some cases

Destroying Angel

Amanita virosa

Description: White mushroom with flaring to ragged ring on stalk. Large, saclike cup about base

Season: Late June-Early November

Habitat: On the ground in mixed woods, in grass under or near trees

Edibility: DEADLY. DO NOT touch or eat anything that looks similar to this mushroom

Comments: Part of a deadly group of Amanitas including the Death Cap. Do not eat any mushrooms with a ‘sac’ at their base, which often is below the surface of the ground.

Devil’s Urn

Urnula craterium

Description: Large, leathery, brown, urn-shaped cup

Season: Late March-May

Habitat: Clustered on fall deciduous wood, especially oak

Edibility: Inedible

Comments: One of the first mushrooms to appear in the spring

Hen of the Woods

Grifola frondosa

Description: Large, clustered mass of grayish-brown, fleshy, spoon-shaped caps with white stalks branching from a compound base

Season: September-November

Habitat: At the base or on stumps of hardwood trees

Edibility: Choice

Comments: Can be found at the same spot or area for many years. Clusters can weigh 5-100 lbs

Purple-Gilled Laccaria

Laccaria ochropurpurea

Description: Large, purplish-brown to greyish cap with thick, purplish gills and stout, solid stalk

Season: July-November

Habitat: On the ground in grassy areas and open oak woods

Edibility: Good

Comments: Often found in quantity in the fall and is good when mixed with other foods

Lion’s Mane

Hericium erinaceus

Orange Pinwheel Marasmius

Marasmius siccus

Description: Small, dry, bell-shaped, rust-orange, pleated cap with dry, black stalk

Season: July-October

Habitat: On deciduous wood, leaves, and white pine needles

Edibility: Inedible

Comments: Among the first mushrooms to appear after rain

Indigo Milky

Lactarius indigo

Description: Indigo, convex to sunken cap, fading with age, sticky, hairless, bruising green

Season: July-late October

Habitat: On soil in oak and pine woods

Edibility: Edible

Comments: The taste of this mushroom varies depending on the trees it grows under, though it often has a peppery flavor

Half-Free Morel

Morchella semilibera

Description: Yellow-brown, skirtlike, honeycombed cap on whitish stalk

Season: April-Early May

Habitat: On the ground in damp, open woods near oak, beech, and tulip trees

Edibility: Good

Comments: Appears about 7-10 days earlier than the Yellow Morel

Yellow Morel

Morchella esculenta

Description: blonde to yellow-brown honeycombed cap on a whitish stalk

Season: Late April-Early June

Habitat: On the ground in burned areas, near dead elms, under tulip trees, ash, oak, and in beech-maple woods

Edibility: Choice

Comments: Often considered the most delicious mushroom, they cannot be farmed and are therefore in very high demand

Old Man of the Woods

Strobilomyces floccopus

Description: Coarsely scaly, greyish-black cap with white to dark grey tubes and woolly/scaly stalk

Season: July-October

Habitat: On the ground amoung hardwoods and conifers

Edibility: Edible

Comments: This common eastern bolete becomes unappetizing as it ages

Oyster Mushroom

Pleurotus ostreatus

Description: Broad, fleshy, white, grey, or brown cap with whitish or yellow-tinged gills arising from attachment to wood or small, hairy, stub-like stalk.

Season: Year-round under favorable conditions

Habitat: Usually on deciduous trees, especially willow and aspen

Edibility: Choice

Comments: This species complex has many forms throughout the year. In summer it is usually flat and whitish, becoming more round and brownish in fall and winter.

Pheasant Back/Dryad’s Saddle

Polyporus squamosus

Description: Large, fleshy, scaly, flat to sunken, yellowish-brown cap with large, white to yellowish pores descending the stalk

Season: Late April-November

Habitat: On living or dead deciduous wood

Edibility: Edible

Comments: When young, the tender edges of the caps can be pickled, sautéed, or fried for a choice treat

Giant Puffball

Calvatia gigantea

Description: Huge, white, smooth sphere with white interior. Surface cracking irregularly with maturity

Season: Late May-October

Habitat: In open woods, pastures, and urban areas

Edibility: Choice

Comments: Commonly found in backyards and parks

Pear-Shaped Puffball

Lycoperdon pyriforme

Description: Pear-shaped, smoothish, yellow-brown mushroom with pore at top

Season: July-November

Habitat: On wood, decaying logs, stumps, debris

Edibility: Choice, when young

Comments: This is a very common and abundant puffball and is best when immature and pure white

Spiny Puffball

Lycoperdon echinatum

Description: Roundish, white, covered with clusters of long spines fused at tips, browning with age

Season: August-November

Habitat: Among leaves in woods

Edibility: Inedible

Comments: One of several types of spiny puffballs which are challenging to distinguish from one another

Scarlet Cup

Sarcoscypha coccinea

Description: Deep, bright red cup with white outer surface

Season: March-May

Habitat: On fallen hardwood branches in wet places

Edibility: Inedible

Comments: Used by the Oneida Indians as a styptic to help blood coagulate

Spring Polypore

Polyporus arcularius

Description: Fleshy, tough, brownish, scaly, circular cap with large, angular, whitish pores and brownish stalk

Season: April-June

Habitat: On dead deciduous wood or ground over buried wood

Edibility: Inedible

Comments: One of the first mushrooms to pop up in the spring. Most easily identified by its unique geometric spore pattern

Wood Ear

Auricularia auricula-judae

Description: Large, brownish, rubbery, ear-shaped

Season: April-December

Habitat: Usually on coniferous wood, but can sometimes also be found on deciduous wood

Edibility: Edible, though rather rubbery

Comments: Also known as Tree Ear. Eaten widely in Chinese culture and may contribute to the lower incidence of coronary artery disease in China