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How to Identify a Hill Jack Mushroom

When out in the wild in search of food, identifying which mushrooms will provide you nourishment and which will make you sick can be crucial. The jack-o'-lantern mushroom can grow in forests or hills and can trick food gatherers into thinking it is a tasty chanterelle mushroom. However, jack-o'-lantern mushroom varieties can cause severe cramps and diarrhea if eaten due to the levels of the toxin muscarine (See Ref 1). Luckily, the jack-o'-lantern mushroom has unique characteristics, allowing a trained eye to differentiate between it and a chanterelle.

Instructions

- 1
  Examine the color of the mushroom cap. The mushroom earned its "jack-o'-lantern" name from its bright orange color. Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms are often more orange than the slightly-yellow chanterelle mushroom.
- 2
  Lift the cap so you can see underneath. The underside of a jack-o'-lantern mushroom cap has true gills, which are not forked and appear knife-like. As a comparison, chanterelles have false gills on the bottom of the cap, which appear to be folded wrinkles that are forked and look melted together. (See Ref 1 and 2)
- 3
  Smell the mushroom. Jack-o'-lantern mushrooms are known for their pleasant, fruity aroma, which can entice people to taste them, only to later make them sick. Chanterelles have a similar scent. (See Ref 2)
- 4
  Examine where the mushroom you want to identify is growing. If it is growing at the base of a tree or on a stump, it could be either a chanterelle or a jack-o'-lantern mushroom (See Ref 2). However, jack-o'-lantern mushrooms can grow in grassy areas where there are no trees, while Chanterelles cannot.
- 5
  Determine if the mushroom is growing in a large cluster with attached stems, which is how jack-o'-lantern mushrooms thrive. This is a primary method of telling jack-o'-lanterns apart from chanterelles, as chanterelles grow individually or in small bunches with separate stems.
- 6
  Take one of the mushrooms into a dark area or wait until night fall. Some types of jack-o'-lantern mushrooms glow slightly green in the dark when fresh.

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