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
Description: Large, whitish, beardlike mass, with log teeth.
Season: August-November, but we have found it in spring as well
Habitat: On dead and decaying deciduous trees
Edibility: Choice. No poisonous look alikes
Comments: Often used in supplements due to its many health benefits, including reducing risk of heart disease and protecting against dementia

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