Welcome to Mushroom World
Welcome to Mushroom World, your resource for mushroom information. On this site you can search for mushrooms in our database and read about them. You can use this information to identify fungus, but do not eat mushrooms you are not 100% certain of. Use many resources, and be skeptical of your own conclusions. It takes normally years of experience to be able to identify mushrooms reliably. The responsibility for the identification is yours; the site takes no responsibility for damage caused by wrong identifications. Please read the disclaimer.
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 how a mushroom looks, 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.
Today's Mushroom
Today's mushroom is Hericium erinaceus (Lion's mane). The mushroom is Edible. It grows in North America, Europe and Asia.
Description: Hericium erinaceus, also known as Lion's mane, is an large, edible mushroom belonging to the tooth fungus group. It grows on cracks or knot holes of living hardwoods, most often oaks in late summer and fall.
Fruiting body consists of one, often roundish fruitbody with 1-5 cm long, soft spines hanging from a tough, hidden base that is attached to the tree. The spines are white, or in age discoloring brownish to yellowish. Stem very short if present.
Similar species Hericium coralloides is found only on wood of conifers and has coarser branches and longer spines in tufts, not in continous rows along lower surfaces.
Hericium erinaceus on the MushroomExpert.Com Web site.
Hericium erinaceus on the www.first-nature.com web site.
Dimensions: Body 8–16 cm across, spines 1-5 cm long
If you are interested in this mushroom, look it up in our database. You can find more detailed pictures there.
