The great Pacific Northwest mushroom guide

Has a double veil and amyloid spores; only a mediocre edible, not the prized matsutake.

Poisonous. Has true thin gills (not blunt ridges), grows in clusters on wood or near oak roots, and glows in the dark.

Has true thin forked gills rather than blunt ridges; can cause stomach upset.

Distinguished from true chanterelles, which have blunt ridges rather than sharp gills.

Formerly placed in Gomphus. Distinguished from true chanterelles, which have blunt ridges rather than sharp gills.

Harmless; has a gelatinous "cap" and is not funnel-shaped.

Harmless relative with a similar overall form.

Golden chanterelle has a solid white interior, whereas yellowfoot has a hollow tube with bright yellow-orange walls.

The black trumpet is dark all the way through, whereas yellowfoot has bright yellow-orange walls in a hollow foot.

Yellow pores that stain blue immediately and an intensely bitter taste; the edible spring king has a white pore layer that never stains blue and a mild taste.

Orange/red pores that turn blue (bruise blue); the spring king has white-to-yellowish pores with no color change.

Orange/red pores that turn blue; the spring king has white-to-yellowish pores that never blue.

The cap is attached only at the top (hangs free), unlike a true morel whose cap is attached down the length of the stem; the fully hollow interior also distinguishes the true morel.

A false early morel; distinguish from true Morchella by cap and stem attachment and chamber structure.

Common host; once fully parasitized it becomes the bright orange, white-fleshed lobster mushroom.

Another host; the parasite neutralizes its pungency. Eat only firm, clearly parasitized white-fleshed specimens; avoid half-parasitized, purple, soft, fishy-smelling ones since the host identity is uncertain.

Chanterelles lack the wart-like perithecia of the lobster mushroom's surface.

Avoid partly parasitized specimens and overripe ones, which have a soft, brownish interior rather than a firm white one.

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.

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.

Edible; lacks a ring and has a striate (grooved) cap margin.

Also known as A. calyptroderma; has a darker cap.

Young Agaricus can be confused with young (egg-stage) specimens; Agaricus has pink-to-brown gills and lacks a volva.

Young egg-stage specimens can resemble puffballs; cut in half to reveal the developing mushroom with cap, gills, and stem inside.

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.

Chanterelles have blunt ridges (not true gills), grow singly out of the ground (mycorrhizal), and do not glow in the dark. The jack-o'-lantern has true sharp decurrent gills, grows in clusters on or beside wood, and is bioluminescent.

Laetiporus forms bracket/shelf-like fruitbodies with pores rather than the gilled, funnel-shaped cap of the jack-o'-lantern.

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.