Welcome to Mushroom World
Step into the enchanting world of fungi with Mushroom World – your trusted companion for learning about mushrooms.
Whether you're a curious beginner or a seasoned nature enthusiast, our site provides clear, accessible information and beautiful images to help you better understand and appreciate the mushrooms you encounter.
If you're curious about what fungi actually are, and how they differ from plants and animals, be sure to visit our what are fungi? page for an easy-to-understand explanation.
With thousands of mushroom species known to science, we've chosen to focus on the most common and easily recognisable ones. Each entry includes helpful descriptions, identification tips, and high-quality images, and we’re always working to expand our collection with new species and updated content.
Come and explore the wonders of mushrooms with us. We hope you find our site informative, inspiring, and a valuable resource on your journey of mushroom discovery.
What you can do on Mushroom World
Browse the database
Explore mushrooms from the alphabetical list or search by name or properties.
Identify a mushroom
Know some characteristics but not the name? Use our mushroom identification helper to narrow it down.
New to identification? Start with identification basics.
Test your knowledge
Try our identification quiz and see how many mushrooms you recognise. Each run gives you new questions.
Upload your photos
Have good mushroom photos to share? Use the upload form and we will see if we can include them on the site.
Today's Mushroom
A quick highlight from our database
Today's mushroom is Lactarius quietus (Oak Milkcap). It grows in Europe, North America.
Dimensions: Cap 5-8 cm diameter; stem 4-9 cm tall * 1-1.5 cm diameter
Description:
Lactarius quietus, also known as Oakbug Milkcap, is a small to medium-sized agaric that has a yellow-brown to reddish-brown cap, creamy-brown to pinkish-yellow gills and exudes creamy-white milk that remains unchanged. The milk has a mild taste at first, becoming slightly bitter after a while. Lactarius quietus is strongly associated with oak and is typically found in deciduous woodland beneath oak trees, often growing among leaf litter. It usually fruits from late summer to autumn.
Cap smooth, shiny when wet and drying to a dull matt finish, initially convex and later becoming flattened or slightly depressed. It is yellow-brown to reddish-brown and usually shows faint darker concentric zones. Gills creamy-brown to pinkish-yellow, crowded and shortly decurrent. When damaged they release creamy-white milk that does not change colour. The gills become noticeably browner with age. Stem smooth, cylindrical and similar in colour to the cap, often becoming slightly darker towards the base. The stem has no ring. Spore print pale creamy-white with a slight salmon-pink tinge.
Microscopic Features: The spores are broadly ellipsoidal, measuring 8-9 x 7-7.5μm. They are amyloid and ornamented with low warts, some of which are joined by ridges and occasional cross-connections, forming a partial but incomplete network.
Lactarius quietus on the www.first-nature.com web site.
Lactarius quietus var. incanus on the MushroomExpert.Com web site.
If you are interested in this mushroom, look it up in our database for more detailed photographs and additional information.
Many mushrooms are poisonous, and some can be lethally toxic. Distinguishing between edible and poisonous mushrooms can be very challenging. Therefore, we strongly advise against consuming wild mushrooms. This website does not contain any information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.
Although efforts have been made to ensure accuracy on this website, the information may contain errors and omissions. Therefore, all content provided is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be relied upon or used as a basis for consuming any plants or mushrooms.
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