Mushroom Identification Guide
Real images, global distribution maps, look-alikes, and safety notes for wild mushrooms worldwide.
Most Dangerous Mushrooms
The deadliest species on Earth and how to recognize them.
Best Edible Mushrooms
The most prized wild mushrooms for foraging and cooking.
Mushrooms by Region
Find what grows near you — with global distribution maps.
Popular Articles
How to Identify a Poisonous Mushroom
The myths that will get you killed — and what actually works.
My Dog Ate a Mushroom — What Do I Do
Emergency steps, danger signs, and which yard mushrooms kill dogs.
Mushrooms That Can Kill You
Real poisoning cases, real species. True crime meets mycology.
Beginner's Guide to Mushroom Foraging
Everything you need to know to start — from someone who started last year.
Mushrooms in Your Yard
What they are, whether to panic, and what about the dog.
Foraging by Season
Month-by-month guide to what's fruiting and where to find it.
Featured Species
Button Mushroom
Agaricus bisporus
The single most cultivated mushroom species on Earth, responsible for roughly 30% of global mushroom production. Button, cremini, and portobello are all the same species at different stages of maturity, a marketing trick that has fooled grocery shoppers for decades. In the wild, it is a rare grassland species from coastal California.
Field Mushroom
Agaricus campestris
The original wild mushroom — the one your grandparents picked from horse pastures before supermarkets existed. Agaricus campestris is the ancestor of the store-bought button mushroom, and it tastes better than anything wrapped in plastic. Just don't confuse a young one with a Death Cap, or your foraging trip becomes a hospital trip.
Spring Fieldcap
Agrocybe praecox
One of the first mushrooms to appear each spring, fruiting on lawns, garden paths, wood chip beds, and disturbed ground across the temperate world. An edible species with a mild flavor, though rarely collected because it is small and not well known. Sometimes confused with more dangerous small brown mushrooms.
Caesar's Mushroom
Amanita caesarea
The mushroom so delicious that Roman emperors hoarded it for themselves. Caesar's Mushroom is one of the few Amanitas you actually want on your plate — a bright orange beauty prized since antiquity, hiding in plain sight among its deadly relatives.
False Death Cap
Amanita citrina
The False Death Cap earns its name by mimicking the world's deadliest mushroom just enough to cause panic. While not lethal, it is considered toxic and inedible, with a raw potato smell that should put off any sensible forager.
Jewelled Amanita
Amanita gemmata
The Jewelled Amanita is a beautiful golden-yellow mushroom sprinkled with white veil fragments that glitter like gemstones in the forest light. Do not let the charm fool you; it contains ibotenic acid and muscimol, the same toxins found in the Fly Agaric.