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.
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Today's Mushroom
A quick highlight from our database
Today's mushroom is Cantharellus lateritius (Smooth Chanterelle). It grows in North America, Africa, Malaysia.
Dimensions: Cap 2-12 cm across, stem 3-6 cm tall * 1-3 cm thick
Description:
Cantharellus lateritius, commonly known as the Smooth Chanterelle, is a species of fungus in the family Cantharellaceae. This mushroom is distinguished by its yellow to orange colouring and its unusually smooth, almost veinless undersurface, hence the name. Unlike the well-known Cantharellus cibarius, which features prominent ridges or false gills, Cantharellus lateritius often has a nearly featureless underside or shallow folds. It is typically found growing in deciduous forests, where it forms mycorrhizal associations with hardwood trees such as oak and beech. Cantharellus lateritius usually appears in scattered groups or small clusters during the summer and autumn months.
Cap planoconvex to flat when young, with a surface that is dry and slightly tomentose, covered with fine hairs. It becomes shallowly vase-shaped or somewhat funnel-shaped as it matures, with an incurved, wavy and irregular margin that typically curves downward in young specimens. The colour ranges from deep, bright orange-yellow to egg-yolk yellow, often fading to a more yellow tone in older specimens. The margins are usually a paler yellow. The underside runs down the stem and is typically smooth or features shallow wrinkles, though it can occasionally develop more pronounced wrinkles that resemble veins, particularly near the margin. Its colour is similar to that of the cap but usually paler. Flesh White and unchanging when sliced. Stem rather plump and stout, more or less cylindrical, and tapers downwards towards the base, which is sometimes white. Internally, the stems are either stuffed with cotton-like mycelia or solid. Occasionally, fruiting bodies may appear clumped together with stems joined at the base, typically in groups of no more than three. The flesh is solid to partly hollow, sometimes due to insect larvae, and has a pale yellow colour. Spore print pale pinkish yellow.
Microscopic Features: Spores measure 6.5 to 9 by 4 to 5.5 micrometres and are ellipsoid to broadly ellipsoid in shape. They have a smooth surface and are inamyloid. In potassium hydroxide, they appear ochraceous. The contents are minutely granular or often contain a single oil droplet.
Cantharellus lateritius on the MushroomExpert.Com Web site.
The second photo is by billyd 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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