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 Rickenella swartzii (Collared mosscap). It grows in Europe, North America.
Dimensions: Cap 0.5-1 cm diameter, stem 2-4 cm tall * 0.1-0.2 cm thick
Description:
Rickenella swartzii is a tiny agaric that is pale grey to grey-brown. The cap centre (navel) is almost black while it is cream-coloured at the margin. The top of the stem is tinged dark violet. It grows in scattered trooping groups in lawns and other grasslands, typically with moss.
Cap initially convex and then expands to become nearly flat, occasionally having a central depression that gives it an infundibuliform (funnel-like) shape. The cap's margin is usually curved downward and is occasionally wavy. The colour of the cap is dark brown at the centre (disc) and transitions to a pale tan shade towards the margin. The flesh is cream-coloured and very thin. Gills pallid, deeply decurrent, fairly well-spaced, at first whitish, then cream-coloured. Stem rounded and mostly equal in width, with a slight enlargement at the apex. Its surface is similar to the cap, with a powdery texture (pruinose), particularly at the apex. As the mushroom ages, the stem becomes almost smooth (nearly glabrous). The colour of the stem ranges from dark vinaceous-brown to bluish-black at the apex, transitioning to a pale buff-orange shade below. There is no partial veil present. Spore print whitish.
Microscopic Features: The spores are elliptical in face-view, slightly inequilateral in profile, and measure approximately 4.0-5.5 (6) x 2.5-3.5 µm. They have a smooth surface, thin walls, granular contents, and a well-developed hilar appendage. The spores are inamyloid.
Rickenella swartzii on the mykoweb.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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