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 Clitocybe metachroa (Twotone Funnel Cap). It grows in Europe, North America.
Dimensions: Cap 3-5 cm diameter, stem 3-6 cm tall * 0.4-0.8 cm thick
Description:
Clitocybe metachroa, also known as the Twotone Funnel Cap, is a smallish agaric mushroom found primarily in woodland environments across Europe and North America. This intriguing species belongs to the large and diverse Clitocybe genus, characterized by its funnel-shaped cap, which ranges in colour from greyish-brown to pale beige, often with a slightly darker centre. The cap is hygrophanous, meaning it changes colour as it loses moisture, drying to a more pallid, lighter shade. The pictures shown here were taken in moist weather.
Cap buff or tan, hygrophanous, and becomes more pallid as it dries. Initially convex, it later develops into an infundibuliform (funnel-shaped) form, with a smooth surface and a finely striate margin that becomes more prominent in moist weather. The flesh is white or greyish and thin. Gills whitish-grey, decurrent, fairly broad, and crowded. Stem concolourous with the cap, smooth, and silky, more or less equal in thickness but with a swollen, woolly base. It lacks a ring. The flesh is white or greyish, thin, and may be hollow or stuffed. Spore print white.
Microscopic Features: The spores are hyaline, smooth, ellipsoid, and non-amyloid, often containing droplets. They measure 5-7 × 3-4 µm.
Synonyms: Clitocybe dicolor.
Clitocybe metachroa on the www.englishfungi.org 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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