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Mushrooms of Wisconsin

The state of Wisconsin is home to many species of mushrooms -- far too many, in fact, to be able to identify. While some of these mushrooms are edible, many are poisonous as well. Mushroom gathering can be fun, and wild mushrooms make a delicious dinner when they're properly cooked and eaten, but it's important to never eat any mushroom you're not positively able to identify.

Inky Cap
- Small and Large Inky Cap mushrooms are abundant in city environs. The small inky cap grows in clusters and has a light brown cap, white stem, and white gills which turn black in maturity. The large inky cap may be brown or grey with a flaky, bell-shaped cap.
Shaggy Mane
- This much-loved mushroom grows in marshy areas. It is known for the shaggy scales covering its white, bell-shaped cap.
Rain Cap
- Also called White Hypholoma, this small mushroom can be found in abundance in city parks and fields. Its cap starts out bell-shaped and then spreads to an umbrella. It's light-colored, greyish or brownish with a white stem and white to pink gills.
Meadow Mushroom
- Often sold in grocery stores, the common meadow mushroom appears along street sides and in grass patches after it rains. It is white or brown, with pink to brown gills and a white ring near a sturdy stem.
Elm Cap and Fairy Ring
- Elm Cap is a large white mushroom which grows directly on elm or box elder trees. Fairy Ring is a small, buff-colored mushroom that grows in rings.
Velvet Stem
- Year-round, this mushroom can be collected from the base of tree stumps or willow trees, along water's edge, or within decaying spots on other trees. It is small, grows in clusters, and has a yellowish brown cap with yellowish gills.
Puffballs
- You have to go to open meadows to find a Giant Puffball, but it's hard to miss, as it can grow up to forty pounds in weight. Its relative, the Cup Puffball, may be six or seven inches in diameter. There are many species of puffballs, all of which are good to eat as long as they remain white; once they turn yellow, they become bitter.
Honey Cap
- There are many varieties of honey cap mushrooms, but they are all honey-colored, including the stem, which has a cottony ring around it.
Morels
- A highly prized woodland mushroom, morels are known for their highly ridged and pitted, hollow brown caps.
Oyster Mushroom
- This is a whitish mushroom with very little stalk that grows on trees. It tends to jut out, like stepping stones, and can be very beautiful.

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