Please note: this is an extremely simplified key, and does not include even all the common groups of mushrooms. It is based entirely on morphology rather than evolutionary relatedness, so some of the specimens that are listed as being in the same category might not be particularly closely related. This activity is designed to familiarize you with some of the common fungi in our area, rather than learning the taxonomy.
Never consume any wild harvested mushrooms unless they have been identified as safe by someone with the appropriate expertise.
1a. Does it have a cap and a stem?
…………………………………….2
1b. No cap and stem.
…………………………………….5
2a. Does it have pores on the underside of the cap? (They may be very tiny use a hand lens if unsure)
…………………………………….Boletes
2b. Does it have gills, grooves or veins?
…………………………………….3
3a. Does it have perpendicular gills underneath the cap?
…………………………………….Gilled Mushrooms
3b. Veins or grooves not as described above
…………………………………….4
4a Gills running down the stem, not platelike and thus not easily separable from the cap and stem (try removing an entire “gill” with your fingers or a sharp object); mushroom usually not growing on wood.
…………………………………….Chanterelles and Trumpets
4b. Stem surface grooved or pocketed. Cap lobed, saddle-shaped, or irregular and whitish, grayish, brownish, or black.
…………………………………….Elfin Saddles
5a. Growing shelflike on wood; mushroom very tough and leathery, corky, or woody (try tearing it in half); cap frequently with concentric zones of color.
…………………………………….Polypores
5b. Not shelflike.
…………………………………….6
6a. Fungus shaped like a cup, a saucer, a goblet, a standing rabbit ear, or a bowl
…………………………………….7
6b. Not shaped as above
…………………………………….8
7a. Goblet or cup with tiny “eggs” inside; mushroom very small.
…………………………………….Bird’s Nest Fungi
7b. Eggs absent; mushroom variously sized.
……………………………………. Cup Fungi
8a. Mushroom more or less shaped like a ball, or like a ball raised up on a stem, or like a ball set on a starfish.
…………………………………….9
8b. Not as above.
…………………………………….10
9a. Fungus covered in some part with a foul-smelling slime; arising from a soft underground “egg”; variously shaped (like a club or stick, like crab claws, like a lantern, like a Wiffle ball, etc.); frequently found in urban settings, but also found in woods.
…………………………………….Stinkhorns
9b. Fungus is a roundish ball surrounded by star-like rays
…………………………………….Earth Stars
10a. Fungus jelly-like or semi-gelatinous; formless, brain-like, glob-like, or lobed; usually growing on wood or on plants or other mushrooms.
…………………………………….Jelly fungi
10b. Specimen consists of thin, leaf-like sheets
…………………………………….Lichen
Adapted from Kuo, M. (2007, January). Key to major groups of mushrooms. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/major_groups.html© MushroomExpert.Com