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 Stropharia rugosoannulata (Wine Cap Stropharia). It grows in North America and occasionally in parts of mainland Europe.
Dimensions: Cap 4-12 cm across, stem 6-12 cm tall * 1-3 cm thick
Description:
Stropharia rugosoannulata, also known as Wine Cap Stropharia, is a medium-sized to large agaric with a greasy, wine-red to reddish brown cap, robust whitish stem with ring and clay or violet-brown gills. The mushroom grows in small trooping groups, sometimes caespitose, on wood chippings or rotting straw at woodland margins.
Cap convex at first, becoming broadly convex to nearly flat. It is sticky when fresh, but soon becomes glossy and dry. The surface is bald, wine red to reddish brown, and fades to yellowish brown or yellowish. Sometimes, cracks develop in old age. The margin is incurved for some time and bears appendicular velar remnants. The flesh is pallid and medium. Gills attached to the stem (adnate), crowded, at first grey, but becoming violet-brown at maturity. Stem whitish, fibrillose, stout, widening at base, with white mycelial 'rootlets'. The ring is white, pendulous, upper surface fluted and sub-apical. Spore print dark purple-brown to purplish black.
Microscopic Features: Spores are ellipsoidal, smooth, thick-walled, 10-13 x 7.5-9µm, with a germ pore.
Stropharia rugosoannulata on the first-nature.com Web site.
Stropharia rugosoannulata on the MushroomExpert.Com Web site.
The second photo is by DracoMalfoy and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.
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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