Welcome to Mushroom World

Step into the fascinating world of mushrooms with Mushroom World - your go-to resource for fungi information. Our site is a comprehensive resource offering information and stunning images of mushrooms mainly found in Europe and North America.

Since there are thousands of known species of mushrooms, we have tried to limit those we list to the most common ones. New species are also continuously added to the site.

So come on in 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.

Below is an overview of the main features and functionalities of our site.

Browse the database

You can browse the database from the alphabetical list or search the database based on mushroom names or properties.

Help identify a mushroom

If you know the characteristics of a mushroom but need help identifying it, try using our mushroom identification helper. It is a tool designed to assist you in identifying mushrooms that you may come across.

If this site cannot help you, we recommend mushroomobserver.org, a community site for mushroom identification. There are also many Facebook groups for mushroom identification, like the public Mushroom Identification group.

Identification Quiz

We have also created a quiz where you can test your fungi identification knowledge. You can repeat the quiz as many times as you want, each time with new questions.

Upload mushroom pictures

If you have pictures of mushrooms you would like to have included on our site, please use the upload form to upload these files and we will see if we can include them.

Today's Mushroom

Today's mushroom is Pleurotus pulmonarius (Indian Oyster). It grows in Europe, North America and Asia.

Dimensions: Cap 2-10 cm diameter, stem 1-1.5 cm tall * 0.75-1.25 cm thick

Description: Pleurotus pulmonarius, commonly referred to as the Indian oyster, Italian oyster, or phoenix mushroom, features a medium-sized, whitish, shell-shaped cap with gills and a very short, eccentric stem. It grows in dense tufts on stumps, trunks, and fallen timber of broad-leaf trees.

Cap starts off as a whitish cream colour, which gradually turns into a pale greyish brown as it ages. Initially, it is slightly convex, later becoming flat with an undulating margin that may appear wavy, lobed, or split. The cap tapers at the point where it attaches to the stem and has a smooth surface. Gills whitish (sometimes discolouring yellowish with age) and running down the stem. They are close or nearly distant and short-gills are frequent. Stem whitish, sometimes absent or rudimentary, but often present. It is eccentric, lateral, or central. The basal mycelium is white. Spore print whitish, grayish, or lilac.

Microscopic Features: Spores measure 7–11 x 2–3 µm and have a cylindrical-ellipsoid shape. They are smooth, transparent in potassium hydroxide (KOH), and lack amyloid properties.

Similar species include Pleurocybella porrigens and Pleurotus ostreatus.

Pleurotus pulmonarius on the MushroomExpert.Com Web site.

This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of the mushroom.

If you are interested in this mushroom, look it up in our database. You can find more detailed pictures there.

Many mushrooms are poisonous and some are lethally poisonous. It can be very difficult to distinguish between an edible and a poisonous mushroom. Because of that, we strongly advise against consuming wild mushrooms, and this site 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, the information presented here is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as any basis for consuming any plants or mushrooms.