Mushrooms 2025

Yeah, don’t listen to that uncle, haha. Looks like possibly a flowerpot parasol, Leucocoprinus birnbaumii.

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I went walking in the neighborhood. Find mushroom growing on live tree in the city. I believe it’s Chicken of the Wood. It was fresh and soft. Can someone confirm?


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It does look like a laetiporus (chicken of the woods) species. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s edible.

It’s important to check which species of tree it is growing on and useful to note the colour of the mushroom’s pore surface. For identification purposes it’s ideal to record mushrooms in situ.

In my region, for instance, there is an edible species with white pores that grows at the base of oaks (L. cincinnatus), and two yellow pored species, which appear identical except that the one that grows on oak (L. sulphureus) is edible, whereas the one that grows on hemlock (L. huronensis) has caused poisonings.

I believe that in western North America they can be edible when growing on conifers (L. conifericola), but that there is a toxic species that grows on eucalyptus. Which species it could be depends on your location.

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Underneath the mushroom is yellow. It was grow on an old tree that the city planted (over 40 years old). It’s a big tree with big trunk. We don’t have hemlock tree here and there is no eucalyptus tree in my area.

Hemlock and eucalyptus were examples of trees that can host toxic forms of chicken of the woods in different regions, but are not the only ones to be avoided. For instance, yew can also be problematic because the needles can get absorbed by the mushroom as it grows. I would never eat this mushroom without absolute certainty about which species of tree it was growing on.

I only really know which types of mushrooms occur in Atlantic Canada. You might be able to get a better sense of which exact species it could be by looking on inaturalist to see what is commonly reported in your area.

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If this help, this is the tree the mushroom was growing on. I’m not an expert on tree and don’t know the name of the tree.

Sorry, I don’t recognize it. You might have success emailing an expert in your area from a university or mycological society.

Thank you for the info. The tree is not conifers, eucalyptus, or yew. It’s a hard wood tree. So, it’s likely to be safe to consume from such a tree.

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I’d definitely eat that. Even the CoTW that we have in the West that grows on conifers is fine for most people.

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I appreciate @Bakeapple’s cautions but I wouldn’t eat that mushroom for a different reason – in my experience, Chicken of the Woods just doesn’t taste like much.

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looking for some id help, found today on long island ny. Dont recognize it. Maybe in the honey family? i dont know how to id that family. Found in an oak forest on a dead snag, probably an oak but i cant id off just bark of a dead tree

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Wine cap? I put some spawn down a couple years ago but never kept it moist and figured it never took.
I’m in foreign territory with mushrooms.



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A close up of the top of the cap and stem would be helpful, but that does look like an Armillaria species (commonly known as honey mushroom).

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Looks like wine caps.

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also found this which i think is a very old white pored chicken of the woods?


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Yep, more confident now that is an Armillaria. There’s a few closely related and similar species and I’m not sure exactly which one that is - maybe tabescens. They’re all under the umbrella of honey mushrooms. You might be able to figure out exactly which one you have based on the context you found it in and this guide: The genus Armillaria (MushroomExpert.Com)

The white fungus in the lower photos could be just about anything.

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Definitely wine cap. If you want confirmation, take a spore print. The spores of wine cap are purple-brown.

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hmmm from this i think either Armillaria gemina, Armillaria gallica, or Armillaria sinapina

In June, I put 20 pounds of Wine Cap spawn, from Field & Forest around some of 35 to 40 loads of arborist chips. We had an abnormally dry Summer. I was expecting to get some mushrooms this year. Our current highs are in the fifties and sixties. We finally started getting rain.

Will I likely still get a flush this year?

How likely is it that the spawn didn’t survive the drought?

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Just noticed the random oyster mushrooms on my property had regrown. Very exciting. Except…they’re frozen solid from last night. Maybe they’ll still alright sautéed? I usually crisp them up in the oven.

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