Welcome to Mushroom World

Welcome to Mushroom World, your resource for mushroom information. This site contains information and images of mushrooms found mainly in Europe and North America. You can use this information to identify fungus, but if you intend to eat the mushrooms you identify, never rely on one source for mushroom identification, and never eat anything unless you are 100% sure it is edible. Please read the disclaimer.

There are thousands of different mushroom species, so we have tried to limit those we list to the most common ones. New species are also continuously added to the site.

Browse the database

You can browse the database from the alphabetical list or by going directly to the mushroom records which are listed under the categories poisonous, inedible and edible. You can also search the database based on mushroom name or some property.

Help identifying a mushroom

If you know the characteristics of a mushroom, but need help to identify it, try our Mushroom identification helper. You can browse mushroom pictures there and perhaps find a match.

If this site cannot help you, we recommend mushroomobserver.org, which is a community site for mushroom identifications. There are also many Facebook groups for mushroom identifications like the Mushroom Identification - public group.

Identification Quiz

We have also created a quiz where you can test how good you are at identifying fungi. You can repeat the quiz as many times as you want, each time with new questions.

Today's Mushroom

Today's mushroom is Lycoperdon nigrescens (Dusky Puffball). The mushroom is Inedible. It grows in North America, Europe.

Description: Lycoperdon nigrescens, also known as Dusky Puffball, is a rounded fungus, typically with a distinct stem and long dark spines. It is very similar to the Common Puffball, but darker-skinned and with small dark warts that persist longer than those of other frequently-encountered puffballs. The mushroom grows typically grows in troops on acid soil on heaths and in coniferous and mixed woods.

Fruiting body is pallid brown covered with dark brown spines. They are fused in groups at the tips, falling away to reveal a brown papery surface decorated with a faint net pattern. Through a sub-spherical opening through a pore at the apex, the fertile head tapers or pinches down into a distinct, but a very short, sterile, spongy basal region. The spore mass is at first white and firm becoming brown and powdery. Spores are brown.

Lycoperdon nigrescens on the www.first-nature.com web site.

Dimensions: 1-4 cm diameter * 1.5-3 cm tall

If you are interested in this mushroom, look it up in our database. You can find more detailed pictures there.