Agaricus bisporus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Agaricus_bisporus.html

Ecology: Scattered on pizzas, gregarious on salads, densely clustered in grocery stores—and occasionally scattered to gregarious on manured soil, compost piles, in lawns, and so on, as a native species and as an escapee from cultivation (see discussion above), especially in coastal California. The illustrated and described collections were purchased in Illinois grocery stores.

Cap: 2.5-14 cm, convex to nearly round at first, expanding to broadly convex or nearly flat; dry; bald or with pressed-down fibers or very small scales; white in some cultivated varieties, brown in others; often bruising pinkish to reddish when rubbed.

Gills: Free from the stem; close; short-gills frequent; pinkish to pink at first, becoming dark brown to nearly black.

Stem: 2-7 cm long; 1-2.5 cm thick; more or less equal; bald or with small scales; white, often bruising reddish to brownish; with a thin ring that sometimes disappears in maturity.

Flesh: White and firm; usually bruising and staining pinkish to reddish, then slowly brownish.

Odor and Taste: Pleasant.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Dark brown—but sometimes difficult to obtain from store-bought mushrooms.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-8 x 5-6 m; ellipsoid; smooth; thick-walled; brownish in KOH. Basidia mostly 2-spored. Cheilocystidia 20-30 m long; clavate; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found.

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Tremella mesenterica

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Ecology: Parasitic on the mycelium of species of Peniophora (a genus of crust fungi); growing alone or in amorphous clusters on the decaying sticks and logs of oaks and other hardwoods (usually when bark is still adnate); usually appearing in spring, in temperate areas, but also appearing in summer, fall, and winter; widely distributed in North America, but possibly less common in western North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Indiana.

Fruiting Body: A mass of lobes or brainlike sections 2-5 cm across and 1-3 cm high; surface bald, moist, dull to bright yellow or orangish yellow; flesh gelatinous, yellow; fading and sometimes becoming amorphous and poorly defined with old age or in wet conditions; drying to an orangish yellow crust.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Microscopic Features: Spores 10-15 x 6-12 m; ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; often "budding" to germinate by repetition, and then sometimes enlarging and/or becoming irregularly shaped. Basidia 21-22 x 12-18 m; ellipsoid; mostly 4-sterigmate, with long, fingerlike sterigmata (to about 40 m long); longitudinally septate. Conidia often present; variously sized but usually smaller than spores; ellipsoid to subfusiform; smooth; hyaline in KOH.

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Trametes pubescens

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Trametes_pubescens.html

Ecology: Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods (rarely reported on conifer wood); annual; causing a white rot; growing in clusters on logs and stumps; summer and fall; widely distributed across North America.

Cap: Up to 8 cm across and 5 cm deep; semicircular, irregularly bracket-shaped, or kidney-shaped; sometimes fusing laterally with other caps; velvety to finely velvety, sometimes becoming nearly bald with age; often finely, radially lined and furrowed, especially on the margin; cream colored; sometimes with faint textural zones but without contrasting zones of color.

Pore Surface: Creamy, becoming yellowish with age; with 3-5 angular pores per mm; tubes to 6 mm deep.

Flesh: Insubstantial; whitish; tough and corky.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on flesh yellow.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5-7 x 1.5-2 ; smooth; cylindric; inamyloid. Cystidia absent. Hyphal system trimitic.

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Amanita chlorinosma

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Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks and perhaps with pines; usually growing alone, but sometimes growing scattered or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America below the Great Lakes from about the Mississippi River eastward.

Cap: 2.5-10 cm; convex, expanding to planoconvex or flat; dry; white; covered with thick, white to grayish, powdery universal veil material (usually as an indistinct powdery or mealy layer, but sometimes as well defined patches, or even aggregated into a few clearly defined warts); the margin not lined.

Gills: Free from the stem or slightly attached to it; close; white to ivory; with frequent short-gills.

Stem: 5-10 cm long; 0.5-1.5 cm thick; more or less equal above a slight basal bulb; sometimes with a short, rooting, underground portion; white; covered with veil material like that on the cap; usually lacking a ring; volva powdery and indistinct.

Flesh: White; not staining on exposure.

Odor: Strong and somewhat foul; reminiscent of chlorine and rotting meat.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative to slightly yellowish.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-11 x 5-7 ; ellipsoid; smooth; amyloid. Basidia 4-spored; basally clamped. Pileipellis a cutis of elements 2-9 wide. Lamellar trama bilateral; subhymenium with inflated cells.

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Boletus vermiculosoides

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Boletus_vermiculosoides.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously in oak-hickory forests; summer; probably widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 4-13 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex; dry; dull; soft; finely, innately fibrillose; olive brown to medium brown or grayish brown, fading to tan; often with a yellow marginal zone, or nearly yellow overall when young--but the yellow quickly becoming brown (in some of my collections the yellow has disappeared completely only a few hours after collecting); when fresh bruising blue to black.

Pore Surface: Dark red-brown to maroon when young, but quickly fading to dull brownish orange; bruising promptly dark blue or black; pores round, 2-3 per mm; tubes dull yellowish, to about 2 cm deep.

Stem: 7-10 cm long; up to about 2 cm thick; slender; more or less equal; covered with tiny tufts of fibers that become brownish when handled; brownish overall, with a yellowish apex and, sometimes, a pale reddish zone; not reticulate; basal mycelium whitish.

Flesh: Whitish or yellowish in cap; yellowish in upper stem; staining sky blue in cap and red in stem when sliced; often becoming riddled with worms and decaying quickly.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: Ammonia reddish on cap surface; orangish on flesh. KOH dark red on cap surface; orange on flesh. Iron salts negative to greenish on cap surface; negative on flesh.

Spore Print: Olive brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-12 x 3-4.5 ; smooth; subfusiform; yellowish in KOH. Hymenial cystidia mostly fusoid-ventricose; yellow in KOH; to about <NOBR>50 x 10 ; inconspicuous.</NOBR> Pileipellis a densely tangled layer of repent to erect hyphae <NOBR>2.5-8 </NOBR> wide; terminal elements cylindric with rounded apices. Caulocystidia utriform to fusoid-ventricose; to about 40 long; hyaline to golden in KOH.

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Amanita mutabilis

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Amanita_mutabilis.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks and pines in pine-oak forests; summer and fall; fairly widely distributed from Texas to Florida and New Jersey. The illustrated and described collection is from Georgia.

Cap: 6-10 cm across; convex, expanding to broadly convex, planoconvex, or flat; bald; tacky when fresh; white, bruising pink; with one to several flat, whitish to faintly grayish patches; the margin not lined.

Gills: Free from the stem or nearly so; white; close; bruising pink; short-gills present.

Stem: 6-11 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; fairly equal above a swollen base (3-4 cm thick); dry; finely silky; white; bruising pink; with a white, fragile, skirtlike ring and a white volva that features a rimmed upper edge.

Flesh: White; quickly staining pink on exposure.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-13.5 x 7-8 m; ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; amyloid. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia not found. Subhymenium inflated-ramose. Pileipellis a cutis of elements 2.5-7.5 m wide, hyaline in KOH.

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Polyporus varius

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Ecology: Saprobic on decaying hardwood sticks and small logs that have lost their bark; causing a white rot; growing alone or scattered; first appearing in late spring and early summer, but often collected in summer and fall; widely distributed in North America; also known from South America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. The illustrated and described collections are from California, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, and North Carolina.

Cap: 2-7 cm; planoconvex to flat, developing a central depression and an uplifted margin; usually round in outline, but sometimes cleft or somewhat kidney-shaped; dry; bald or very finely radially appressed-fibrillose; dull yellow to pale tan.

Pore Surface: Running down the stem; whitish to pale grayish when young, becoming dingy brownish in age; sometimes bruising faintly brownish; with 3-5 angular pores per mm at maturity; tubes 1-3 mm deep.

Stem: Central or off-center to lateral; 1-3 cm long; 2-7 mm wide; tapered slightly to base; often curving; dry; bald and pale tan at the apex, becoming finely velvety and dark brown to black from the base upward; tough.

Flesh: Whitish to dingy yellowish; unchanging when sliced; thin; very tough.

Odor and Taste: Odor usually fragrant; taste not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH brownish orange on flesh and cap surface.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-10 x 2-3 m; cylindric; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 4-spored. Setae not found. Cystidioles 20-27 x 4-9 m; lageniform; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Hyphal system dimitic. Generative hyphae 3-6 m wide, thin-walled, smooth, hyaline in KOH, clamped at septa. Skeletal hyphae 2-5 m wide, thick-walled, nonseptate, branching, smooth, hyaline to brownish in KOH.

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Boletus rubriceps

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Ecology: Mycorrhizal with Engelmann spruce, and perhaps with other spruces and with firs; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall, in monsoon season; southern Rocky Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Colorado.

Cap: 8-22 cm at maturity; convex in the button stage, becoming broadly convex to nearly flat; greasy to tacky; bald; often shallowly wrinkled in places; brownish red to reddish brown; sometimes with a whitish bloom when young.

Pore Surface: White to whitish at first, becoming yellowish to brownish yellow and eventually olive; not bruising; pores "stuffed" at first; with 2-4 circular pores per mm at maturity; tubes to 2 cm deep.

Stem: 8-18 cm long; 3-8 cm thick; swollen and club-shaped when young, becoming club-shaped or equal; finely whitish-<A HREf="glossary.html#reticulation">reticulate over at least the upper portion; whitish or pale brownish; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: White; solid; unchanging when sliced, or staining slightly pinkish.

Odor and Taste: Taste nutty; odor not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH red to orange or orangish on cap; negative on flesh. Ammonia black to dark red on cap; negative on flesh.

Spore Print: Olive to brownish.

Microscopic Features: Spores 12-20 x 4-5.5 m; fusiform to subfusiform; smooth; yellowish in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia to about 30 x 5 m; lageniform; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH; rare and scarcely projecting. Pileipellis a collapsing trichoderm; golden in KOH; elements 5-7.5 m wide, smooth, frequently septate; terminal cells subclavate, cylindric with rounded apices, or occasionally slightly constricted.

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Wolfina aurantiopsis

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Wolfina_aurantiopsis.html

Ecology: Saprobic on decaying hardwood sticks (which are sometimes buried); growing scattered to gregariously; summer and fall; Connecticut to Florida, west to Ohio. The described and illustrated collections are from North Carolina and Ohio.

Fruiting Body: Cup shaped when young, becoming broadly cup shaped with age; 3-7 cm across; upper surface pale to bright yellow, bald; outer surface dark brown to nearly black, woolly to hairy, becoming more bald with age; flesh firm, yellowish to watery grayish, turning slowly purplish when sliced; odorless.

Chemical Reactions: KOH and iron salts both negative on upper surface and on flesh.

Microscopic Features: Spores 22-30 x 12-16 at maturity; very shallowly and subtly ridged lengthwise (best seen with cotton blue) but often appearing smooth or nearly so; ellipsoid; cyanophilic; hyaline, with granular contents, in KOH. Asci 8-spored; 200-300 x 10-15 ; thick-walled; hyaline in KOH; tips inamyloid. Paraphyses filiform; 250-300 x 2.5 ; septate several times; apices rounded or subacute. Excipular surface elements (hairs) 7-10 wide; often thick-walled; brownish to brown in KOH; finely warted or spiny ("prickled" in the words of Eckblad, 1968) walls near the basal portion, but smooth above.

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Lycoperdon perlatum

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Lycoperdon_perlatum.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, gregariously, or in clusters; in woods under hardwoods or conifers, but also common along roadsides and in urban settings; late spring through fall in temperate regions, but also over winter in warm climates; widely distributed and common in North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois, Colorado, and Italy.

Fruiting Body: Usually shaped like an inverted pear or a cushion, with a fairly prominent sterile base and a roundish or somewhat flattened top; 2-7 cm wide; 3-8 cm high; dry; whitish to very pale brownish when young, becoming brown with age; covered when fresh and young with cone-shaped, wide-based, firm spines about 1 mm high (often with well-spaced larger spines surrounded by smaller spines and/or granules); spine tips often becoming brownish to brown; surface, after spines have fallen off, pock-marked where the spines were attached, sometimes in a reticulate pattern; outer skin paper thin; developing a central perforation through which spore powder is liberated by rain drops and wind currents; interior flesh white and spongy at first, later olive to olive brown above and yellowish to brown in the sterile base; spore powder olive brown at maturity; base attached to thin white rhizomorphs.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4-5 m; globose; finely verrucose; greenish yellow in KOH. Basidia 5-6 c 5-6 m; subglobose; 4-sterigmate with long (about 3 m) sterigmata; smooth; hyaline to yellowish or brownish in KOH. Capillitial threads 2-5 m wide; hyaline to olive or brown in KOH; walls 0.5-1 m thick; with scattered tiny pores.

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