Amanita ocreata

Also called
-Death angel,
-Destroying angel,
-Angel of death,
-Western North American destroying angel

Amanita ocreata associates with oak trees
However, some references say it is also found in mixed woods of pine and oak as well as under hazel

Generally appears in the Spring

The the cap may be white or ocher and often develops a brownish center, while the stipe, ring, gill and volva are all white.

Amanita ocreata is highly toxic, and has been responsible for a number of mushroom poisoning. It contains highly toxic amatoxins, as well as phallotoxins,

Note: the cap is bald and almost always lacks patches or warts that are prominent in other Amanitas .

A spore print would be "white"

The odor is absent or it smells slightly of bleach or chlorine, of dead fish, or of iodine.

Amanita ocreata is known from Washington to California, and Baja California, Mexico.

Amanita ocreata first appears as a white egg-shaped object covered with a universal veil (see picture below)

Here you have the Amanita ocreata before the Universal veil opens

2) Agrocybe praecox

There are a group of closely related species called the Agrocybe praecox group

These are the mushrooms one sees growing in wood chips.

Mushroomexpert.com says: " brown spore prints, whitish to yellowish brown caps, and partial veils that often leave fragments hanging from the cap margins and fragile rings on the stems. The mushrooms range from small to medium in size, and are often found in urban settings--

Wikipedia indicates that "Agrocybe praecox is a species of brown-spored edible mushroom" (emphasis added). However, many others indicate that while possibly edible, the taste is terrible.

Wikipedia goes on to say:

A group of species which are difficult to distinguish consistently.
• Cap: up to 8 cm, convex, smooth, beige when dry and yellowish brown when imbued with moisture.
• Gills: Initially whitish, later dark brown.
• Stem: Pale; quite thick (up to about 1 cm) with a fragile ring. Often with mycelial cords at the base.
• Odor and taste: Floury. Taste may be bitter.
• Season: Often observed in spring, but can also occur in summer and autumn.

Jan Lindgren notes: The gills on some of the specimens look more like Stropharia with black spores and not brown as in Agaricus.

3) Bolbitius Titubans

Mykoweb.com says: Bolbitius titubans is a small, yellow, attractive mushroom that is recognized by its viscid, striate cap, yellow brown gills, rust-brown spores, lack of a ring, and habit of growing either on dung or grass. Like many small Coprinus species, fruitings are ephemeral, mushrooms opening in the morning, then shriveling by the end of the day.

4) Boletus rex veris

Often called the Spring King Bolete

Boletus rex veris is edible and delicious.

Wikipedia says: Boletus rex veris has a pinkish to brownish cap and its stem is often large and swollen, and the overall color may have an orange-red tinge. As with other boletes, the size of the fruiting body is variable. Boletus rex-veris is edible,

and may be preserved and cooked. For many years, Boletus rex-veris was considered a subspecies of the porcini mushroom B. edulis.

Boletus rex veris grows under pine trees, generally in May to June often just as the morel season is drawing to a close. This mushroom is frequently found along dirt roads and trails.

5) Coprinellus micaceus

Also called Mica Cap

They are deliquescent -- they turn to black ink with age

Mica caps are said to be edible, but with caution. Cooking is said to inactivate the enzymes that cause autodigestion or deliquescence. Clearly they should not be consumed with alcohol (may cause flushing, and vomiting,)

Mica caps appear where wood is rotting away beneath the soil, including suburban lawns.



Interestingly these mushrooms do not develop insects or worms.

Older specimens turn black and inky as they withers away starting from the cap edges

The cap is oval to cylindrical, but expands to become campanulate (bell-shaped), sometimes with an umbo (a central nipple-like protrusion); finally it flattens somewhat, becoming convex. The cap margin is prominently grooved almost all the way to the center.

6) Crepidotus Mollis

Also called:
soft slipper and
jelly crep

The cap is kidney shaped. The cap is white when it is young and when it gets older, it turns ochre.

Mycoweb says: "The shell-shaped fruiting bodies of Crepidotus mollis are sometimes mistaken for a small oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus). It, however, seldom approaches the size of the oyster mushroom, and is easily distinguished by a brown rather than white spore print.

7) Daedalea guercina

Also known as
Oak mazegill, or
maze-gill fungus

The bodies of Daedalea quercina have been used as a natural comb.
They have regularly been employed for brushing down horses with tender skin.
It has also been reported that smoldering fruit bodies were used for anesthetizing bees

Some studies have shown that this mushroom can be used in bioremediation because it contains and enzyme laccase that degrades a variety of toxic dyes and pigments.

8) Hygrophorus purpurascens

Also called:
Snowbank mushroom

Hygrophorus purpurascens has a viscid purplish red cap and stalk, vinaceous-streaked fruiting body, decurrent, waxy gills, fibrillose vei.

It is found under spruce and other conifers many times partially buried in the duff

9) Inocybe

Also called: Fiber caps

Inocybe is a large, complex genus of mushrooms with many species that are hard to identify. The vast majority of Inocybes are toxic

The cap often appears fibrous or frayed, hence the common name "fiber caps".

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10) Laccaria Laccata

Laccaria is a genus with about 75 species. Laccaria are white spored , small mushrooms. The gills are attached to the stem, thick,and flesh-colored. They do not run down the stipe. The cap colors range from whitish to, more commonly, orangish brown or reddish brown--while a few species are purple. It associates with both hardwoods and conifers. Laccarias are never slimy, which helps in separating them from the waxy caps,

Laccaria laccata (also called waxy laccaria) is difficult to recognize and it is therefore sometimes referred to as "The Deceiver".

11) Marasmiellus candidus

Marasmiellus candidus is a small white mushroom that grows on wood. It has widely spaced gills and it stains pinkish. This pretty little mushroom often grows on fallen branches

Mushroom Expert.com says: "Despite their tiny size, many marasmioid species are tough little mushrooms. In dry conditions they simply shrivel up and wait for the next rain. You can find them in this state if you drop to the ground and sift through the leaves or needles carefully, searching for hair-thin stems with tiny, dried-out mushroom caps attached. If you then take the mushrooms home and drop them in water, they will often assume their normal proportions. (This, it turns out, is only entertaining once.)

12) Parasola

"A little Umbrella"
The Parasola genus is in the family Psathyrellaceae.

Parasola is a very sought after fungus in Europe, due in part to its taste ,and versatility in the kitchen.

The parasol mushroom should not be eaten raw because it is toxic. It is said that the toxidity can be eliminated by soaking in butter.

Parasolas are can be prepared similarly to a cutlet. That is, run them through egg and breadcrumbs and then fry them in a pan with some oil or butter.

Be careful: These can make you very sick.

13) Pluteus

Pluteus are wood rotting saprobes with pink spore prints and gills that are free from the stem. There is no volva

Pluteus is a large genus with over 300 species.

14) A Puffball

Puffballs fall into a number of diferent groups of fungi.
Wikipedia says: The distinguishing feature of all puffballs is that they do not have an open cap with spore-bearing gills. Instead, spores are produced internally.

Jan Lindgren notes: need cut specimen in half to identify, becasue it could be an Amanita button rather than a puff ball.

15) Russula

Russula is a large genus with at least 750 species.

A key distinuishing feature is that the stipe will break like chalk

16) Stropharia

Also called "roundheads"

Stropharia have a distinct membranous ring on the stipe. They are related to Psilocybe.