Field Guide · Chapter 29 of 29

More fungi

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Porcini

Boletus edulis

Agaricomycetes › Boletales › Boletaceae

Cap up to 30 cm

Its cap can reach 30 cm across, and the fruit body can weigh 3 kg.

Shiitake

Lentinula edodes

Agaricomycetes › Agaricales › Omphalotaceae

Written down in 1209

Its cultivation was written down in China in 1209, so growers have kept it for centuries.

Oyster mushroom

Pleurotus ostreatus

Agaricomycetes › Agaricales › Pleurotaceae

Cap up to 30 cm wide

Its threads may get nitrogen by killing and eating nematodes.

Shaggy ink cap

Coprinus comatus

Agaricomycetes › Agaricales › Agaricaceae

Melts in hours

It can turn black and dissolve itself within hours of being picked.

Chicken of the woods

Laetiporus sulphureus

Agaricomycetes › Polyporales › Laetiporaceae

Up to 60 cm across

Young ones can be eaten, which sets it apart from many shelf fungi.

Giant puffball

Calvatia gigantea

Agaricomycetes › Agaricales › Lycoperdaceae

Up to 80 cm across

Unlike most mushrooms, every spore forms inside the fruiting body.

Common stinkhorn

Phallus impudicus

Agaricomycetes › Phallales › Phallaceae

10–15 cm per hour

A stinkhorn can push up through asphalt.

Lingzhi

Ganoderma lucidum

Agaricomycetes › Polyporales › Polyporaceae

Cap up to 35 cm across

A shiny, fan-shaped mushroom that may show six colors.

Lion's mane

Hericium erinaceus

Agaricomycetes › Russulales › Hericiaceae

Up to 40 cm across

It can grow on living trees too, usually in association with a wound.

Tree lungwort

Lobaria pulmonaria

Lecanoromycetes › Peltigerales › Lobariaceae

Three kingdoms in one

A lichen is a fungus, a green alga and a cyanobacterium living as one body.

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