The great Central & Western Europe mushroom guide

Bitter taste; dark net pattern on a pale stem and pink pores (the cep has a pale net on a brownish stem with white/yellow pores). Tasting a small piece reveals its bitterness.

Red pores and red stem, bruises blue; poisonous. General rule: avoid boletes with red pores or that bruise strongly blue.

Blues immediately when cut and has red/orange pores. Porcini flesh stays white and does not change.

The white net pattern (reticulation) on the upper stalk and the non-bluing pores distinguish Boletus edulis.

Much of the commercial Chilean "porcini" export is actually Suillus and native boletes rather than true B. edulis; the trade name is applied broadly.

More orange, with true, thin, closely spaced gills (not folds) that are forked but gill-like. Now considered edible but can cause stomach upset.

Can superficially resemble the chanterelle but has true gills and a different colour.

The cap hangs free, attached to the stem only at the top. In a true morel the cap is attached to the stem along its lower edge and the whole body is hollow.

A darker trumpet chanterelle but with a yellow stem; edible.

Can resemble it superficially; differs in form and colour.

Edible; the only similar species.

Resembles the funnel chanterelle more than the black trumpet.

Smaller and more orange than H. repandum; equally edible.

Can resemble a pale chanterelle from a distance, but the spiny underside of Hydnum (versus chanterelle's blunt ridges/false gills) tells them apart. Both edible.

Resembles the hedgehog from above, but the chanterelle has blunt ridges/false gills rather than the hedgehog's spines.

Gelatinous with rubbery spines.

Scaly, darker in colour, and can be bitter.

Amanita species lack the saffron-orange milk and have a volva. If the cap spots wash off and there is no orange milk, do not eat.

These lack the clear saffron color and the combination of orange latex, pine habitat and green bruising.

Greenish-tinged and less tasty, but harmless.

All edible. Only milkcaps with orange/red milk are safe here; those with white, burning milk should be avoided.

Lacks milk and grows on wood.

Also edible; like L. deliciosus it shows orange milk, which distinguishes it from bitter milk caps.

Also edible; distinguished from bitter milk caps by the orange milk.

Distinguish the edible saffron milk caps from bitter milk caps by the carrot-orange milk.

Has white/pink latex and a woolly (shaggy) cap margin, unlike the orange/red milk and smooth margin of the edible milk caps. Avoid it.

The orange latex and its greening reaction are reliable distinguishing features.

Edible Asian mushroom that has caused several deaths among East/Southeast Asian migrants through confusion with the death cap. Both have a volva; check gill colour (straw mushroom develops pink to brown gills and a pink spore print, whereas the death cap has white gills and a white amyloid spore print).

Edible Amanita that can be confused with the death cap; distinguish by colour and spore features, but never rely on colour alone.

Agaricus species have pink-to-brown gills and a dark spore print and lack a volva, whereas the death cap has white gills, a white spore print and a sac-like volva at the base.

Native species (A. austrophalloides, A. marmorata, A. murina, A. murinaster) with a sac-like volva, ring and amyloid spores are untested but likely toxic; do not eat.

Young death cap buttons resemble Agaricus and puffballs, but Agaricus has pink to chocolate-brown gills, a brown spore print and no volva; the death cap always has white gills, a white spore print and a sac-like volva.

The green/greenish-yellow death cap form can be confused with green Russula species; check for the white free gills, ring and sac-like volva, which Russula lacks.

Russulas lack a volva and a ring; always dig up the base to check for the sac-like volva and look for the skirt-like ring and white free gills of the Death Cap.

Agaricus has pink to brown gills (not white) and no volva; the Death Cap has white free gills and a sac-like volva at the stem base.

Agarics lack a sac-like basal volva and have pink-to-brown gills and a brown spore print; the death cap has white free gills, a white spore print, and a volva in the soil.

The pale form of the death cap can be mistaken for puffballs; cutting a puffball reveals uniform white flesh, whereas a young death cap button shows the outline of a developing capped mushroom.

Green russulas lack a ring and volva and have brittle flesh.

Easily confused at the young, egg-like stage; always dig up the base and check the diagnostic combination of white gills + white ring + white sac-like volva.

Field mushrooms have pink to brown gills (not the death cap's white gills) and lack a basal volva/sac.

Distinguished by the death cap's combination of ring plus volva and its olive-green cap colour.

Young egg-stage Death Caps can resemble puffballs; always slice any 'puffball' in half - a developing mushroom with cap, gills and stem inside means it is not a puffball.

In Chile, warnings are given about confusing the death cap with Macrolepiota; look for the death cap's volva, ring and greenish cap with white gills.

In Chile, warnings are given about confusion with Russula; Russula lacks a ring and volva.

In Chile, warnings are given about confusion with Agaricus; Agaricus has a ring but no volva and develops pinkish-to-brown gills with a brown spore print, unlike the death cap's persistently white gills.

In Chile, warnings are given about confusion with Tricholoma; Tricholoma lacks the ring and volva of the death cap.

Locally eaten edible Amanita (also A. loosii); the central confusion in African ethnomycology - the deadly white Amanita are mistaken for these.

An unopened white egg-stage deadly Amanita can resemble a puffball; cut it in half - a developing capped mushroom outline reveals the Amanita.

A globally risky lookalike that also has a volva; check for the ring (present in Amanita, absent in Volvariella) and spore colour (white in Amanita, pinkish in Volvariella).

Same deadly section (Phalloideae) by appearance but lacks the toxins and is eaten locally in Rwanda/Burundi/Tanzania; cannot be told apart by eye alone, underscoring why species-level knowledge is essential.

Agaricus has pink to brown gills and a brown spore print, and no volva; the destroying angel is all white with white free gills that do not darken and a sac-like volva.

Cut lengthwise - a young Amanita egg shows the outlines of a cap and gills and has a volva, while a puffball is solid and uniform inside.

Edible Agaricus species develop dark gills as they mature, whereas the destroying angel keeps white gills and has a volva.

Young white puffballs are solid spheres without gills, ring, or volva; cutting one open reveals a uniform interior rather than the developing mushroom of an Amanita.

Gurumelo flesh reddens when scraped and smells of earth; the white destroying angels stay white and do not oxidize.

Young Agaricus lack a sac-like volva; the destroying angels have a white sac volva at the stem base.

Immature egg-stage Amanitas of various species can look similar; slice lengthwise to reveal the developing structure and avoid all-white forms with a volva.

Agaricus have pink-to-brown gills and lack a basal volva; the destroying angel has white gills and a sac-like volva at the base. Cut the young mushroom open to check for an Amanita inside the veil.

Brittlegills lack a ring and a volva.

Volvariella have pink spore deposits/gills and lack a ring.

Compare ring, volva and scale pattern; cut young specimens open to check for an Amanita inside the veil.

Cut the egg-like young mushroom in half: a young destroying angel shows the developing capped fungus inside the veil, whereas a puffball is uniform white flesh throughout.

The orange/reddish-brown colour can tempt chanterelle pickers. The webcap has true sparse rust-brown gills, a rust-brown spore print, a cobweb-like cortina when young and yellow veil bands on the stem, whereas the chanterelle has blunt, forked, decurrent false gills (ridges), a paler spore print and no cortina.

Check for the rust-brown spore print, rust-brown gills, the cobweb-like cortina and the yellow-brown stem with yellow veil bands, which together identify a deadly webcap.

Shares the same habitat, so they are easily confused. Inspect each mushroom: the deadly webcap has a pointed cap and true gills, whereas the funnel chanterelle has ridges (false gills) and a hollow stem.

Edible; grows on wood but gives a white spore print, whereas funeral bell gives a rust-brown spore print.

Edible; also grows on wood. Distinguish by spore print (rust-brown in funeral bell) and overall features. Many fatalities have occurred from picking funeral bell along with this species.

Edible wood-growing mushroom that can be confused with Galerina marginata; lacks the fragile ring and has white spore powder rather than rust-brown.

Wood-dwelling like Galerina; very different in appearance, but beginners can mistake it.

Small brown hallucinogenic mushrooms that can be dangerously confused with deadly Galerina.

Edible small brown-gilled mushrooms can resemble Galerina marginata; confirm features carefully before eating any small brown mushroom from wood.

Psilocybe has a purple-brown to black spore print and bruises blue; galerina has a rust-brown print and does not bruise blue. At least one death in the PNW resulted from confusing galerina with Psilocybe stuntzii.

Flammulina velutipes has a white spore print.

Edible Amanita with which the panther cap is most often confused unintentionally; distinguished by its overall reddening flesh rather than the panther cap's clean white spots on a brown cap with striate margin and collar-like volva.

An edible Amanita that can be confused with the panther cap.

Rule of thumb: dark scales on a light background = parasol; light (white) patches on a dark background = Amanita (panther cap).

Edible Caesar-type Amanita are confused with A. pantherina; the panther cap has white warts (which can wash off in rain), a ring, and a ringed/concentric stem base.

The cep has white/yellow pores, a light-coloured net, and does not blue; the devil's bolete has red pores, a red net-stem and blueing flesh.

Another red-pored bolete; avoid all boletes with red pores that blue strongly.

Another red-pored bolete; avoid all boletes with red pores that blue strongly.

Inexperienced foragers may mistake the pale cap for a porcini until they notice the red pores; the porcini has whitish to olive (never red) pores and does not have a red-networked stem.

Edible porcini have pale pores, a pale stem, and white flesh that does not turn blue. Red pores plus blue-staining flesh indicate the devil's bolete.

Native Australian species, eucalyptus-associated, lacking white warts and a ring.

Caesar's mushroom (edible, southern Europe) has a yellow cap, yellow gills and yellow stem; a young rain-washed fly agaric lacking warts could theoretically be confused with it, but the fly agaric has white gills and white stem.

At the button stage the fly agaric is a white ball that can resemble a puffball; cut it lengthwise to reveal the developing cap, gills and stem of the agaric.

Brown cap with white warts, ring, and banded volva; the more toxic of the two and can be confused by inexperienced foragers with edible grey- or brown-capped species.

The red color plus white warts plus a volva at the base distinguish the fly agaric; rely on these warning features even when the cap color has faded.