╔══ GlossaryThe terms used on the species pages, briefly explained. · 82 Glossary

Mushroom anatomy

hymenium

The hymenium is the spore-producing surface on the under-side of the cap. Its shape — gills, pores, teeth, ridges, a smooth surface or the fleshy gleba — is often the single most useful feature for telling species apart. It is what the "Hymenium" rows on the species page describe.

gills (lamellae)

Gills (botanically lamellae) are the thin, blade-like plates that radiate from the stipe under the cap. Their attachment to the stipe (free, adnate, decurrent…) and their spacing and colour are key identification characters.

pores

A poroid hymenium is made of hundreds of tiny tubes packed side by side, opening as pores on the under-side of the cap. It is the signature of the boletes (Boletaceae) and the polypores, and the pore surface, its colour and how it stains when bruised are key identification characters.

smooth

A smooth hymenium carries no gills, pores or teeth: the under-side of the cap is a flat, spore-dusted surface. It is typical of chanterelle-like species, where the fertile surface may be smooth or only lightly veined, and of many fan- and crust-forming fungi.

ridges

Ridges (also called veins or folds) are shallow, rounded and often forked lines on the fertile surface, replacing true blade-like gills. They are the signature of the chanterelle group (Cantharellus, Craterellus), which is why those species are described as ridged rather than gilled.

teeth

A toothed hymenium bears soft, hanging spines or "teeth" from the under-side of the cap rather than gills or pores. It is the signature of the tooth fungi — Hydnum, Hericium, Sarcodon — and the shape, length and fragility of the spines help tell species apart.

gleba

The gleba is the spore-bearing flesh found inside puffballs, earthstars, stinkhorns and similar fungi. Instead of gills or pores it forms a solid mass that, in mature specimens, dries into a powdery spore dust — the "smoke" a stepped-on puffball releases.

stipe

The stipe is the mushroom’s stem. Its surface (ring, volva, cortina, reticulation), its shape (bulbous, sliding, hollow) and how the gills attach to it are all used to identify the species.

spore print

A spore print is made by laying a cap gill-side down on paper until it sheds enough spores to leave a coloured dust. Spore colour is remarkably constant within a species, unlike cap colour, so it often settles a close call. The site records it as one of its morphology values.

Cap shape

campanulate

A campanulate cap is bell-shaped: high and rounded in the centre, like a church bell. Many small woodland species start bell-shaped and flatten with age, so note the stage when recording it.

infundibuliform

An infundibuliform cap is funnel- or trumpet-shaped: the centre sinks into a depression and the margin often stays wavy. Chanterelles and many Clitocybe look-alikes are classic funnel shapes.

umbonate

An umbonate cap carries a distinct rounded knob — the umbo — in the middle, like a nipple. The opposite is an umbilicate cap, which has a small dimple instead.

umbilicate

An umbilicate cap has a navel-like hole or dimple in the middle — an inverted umbo. The depression is usually small and sharp-edged, unlike the wide hollow of a funnel shape.

conical

A conical cap is shaped like a cone: tall in the middle, tapering evenly towards the rim and usually ending in a point. It is typical of many Mycena, Coprinus and other slender-capped genera, and like bell shapes it often relaxes and flattens as the mushroom ages.

convex

A convex cap is domed like an upturned bowl, evenly rounded with no point or bell. It is the common young shape of most gilled mushrooms and flattens as the cap matures, so the stage of the specimen is worth noting when recording it.

depressed

A depressed cap has a shallow hollow in the centre — more sunken than a flat cap but without the deep, tube-like funnel of an infundibuliform shape. It is common in the russulas, Lactarius and many Clitocybe as they grow older.

flat

A flat cap is level across its surface, with no dome, point or hollow. Many species that begin convex or bell-shaped end their lives flat and then slightly upturned, so "flat" describes an age stage as much as a shape.

offset

An offset (eccentric) cap is attached to the stipe off-centre, so it extends visibly further to one side than the other, like a fan. It is the shape of the oyster mushroom and other Pleurotus species, which grow sideways out of dead wood.

ovate

An ovate cap is egg-shaped in outline: rounded and smooth, longer than it is wide, widest near the base. It describes the young, still-closed stage of species whose caps later bell out or flatten, such as Panaeolus and some of the inky caps.

no cap

Some fruit bodies have no distinct cap at all: clubs and corals (Clavaria, Ramaria), cups (Peziza), jelly fungi and resupinate crusts. There is simply nothing to describe as a cap, so the shape is recorded as "no cap" rather than as an absence.

concave to plane

Caps described as concave to plane span both shapes within one species: younger or smaller specimens are saucer-like, with the rim above the centre, while older ones flatten out level. It is a recorded range rather than a single outline.

semi-spherical

A semi-spherical cap is deeply domed into about half a sphere — rounder than a low convex cap but without the point of a cone or the bell of a campanulate shape. It describes the young, unopened stage of many robust mushrooms.

Hymenium attachment

adnate

Adnate gills meet the stipe across their full width, with no notch and no free gap. It is one of the more common attachments among gilled mushrooms.

adnexed

Adnexed gills touch the stipe only briefly, narrowing to a point right before it — neither free nor fully attached. When the narrowing is a cut-out notch instead, the attachment is called sinuate.

decurrent

Decurrent gills continue down the stipe instead of stopping at the cap edge — the signature of chanterelles, oysters and many Clitocybe. The more they run, the stronger the feature.

sinuate

Sinuate (or emarginate) gills make a distinct inward notch or bay where they meet the stipe, instead of touching it along a straight line. The two terms overlap; emarginate stresses the cut-out itself.

emarginate

Emarginate gills end in a notched, cut-away indentation at the stipe, so they appear to avoid touching it. It is a stronger version of the sinuate attachment.

seceding

Seceding gills start attached to the stipe but separate from it as the cap expands, ending up looking almost free. Checking the attachment on a young specimen is the reliable moment.

subdecurrent

Subdecurrent gills run a little way down the stipe but clearly less than truly decurrent ones. It is the common intermediate between an adnate and a decurrent attachment.

free

Free gills stop entirely short of the stipe, leaving a clear gap between them and it. It is a stable, easily checked character — the genus Amanita is the classic free-gilled group, and it is one of the features that makes the genus so easy to recognise.

no attachment

Some fruit bodies do not have a cap and stipe, so the question of how gills attach to a stem simply does not apply. Clubs, corals, cups and crusts are recorded as having "no attachment" rather than being treated as free or adnate.

Stipe

volva

The volva is the cup-like remnant left at the base of the stipe when the mushroom pushed out of its universal veil (the "egg" any Amanita starts as). A ring plus a volva is the classic Amanita signature — and their absence is one of the quickest ways to separate an edible from a deadly look-alike.

ring (annulus)

The ring (annulus) is the remnant of the partial veil — the membrane that covered the gills while the cap was closed — left on the upper stipe. It can persist as a full skirt or shrink to a ragged edge, and whether it moves up and down the stipe is itself an identifying character.

ring and volva

A stipe carrying both a ring and a volva is the signature of the genus Amanita. In Europe it is worth learning because it telescopes down to one question with serious consequences: ring + volva + white gills = handle with extreme care.

cortina

The cortina is a fine, cobweb-like partial veil stretched between the cap edge and the stipe while the mushroom is closed. As the cap opens it ruptures, leaving fibres on the stipe and often rust-coloured spore dust in them — the feature that names the entire genus Cortinarius.

reticulate

A reticulate stipe is covered in a raised net-like pattern of ridges, like a fine mesh drawn over the surface. It is a classic character of the king bolete group (Boletus edulis and allies).

bare

A bare stipe carries none of the veil remnants — no ring, no volva, no cortina, no scales. It is a useful negative character: the absence of a ring and volva is one of the quickest ways to separate many innocent look-alikes from the deadly Amanitas.

Spore print colour

black

A black spore print is dark near-black dust, made by spores of the inky caps (Coprinus), Psathyrella and a number of dark-gilled species. Combined with gill colour it is a quick way to confirm groups whose mature gills are also dark.

blackish brown

A blackish-brown spore print is so dark it can be mistaken for black, but held to the light the brown tone shows. It is common across dark-spored genera such as Psathyrella, Panaeolus and many Agaricus look-alikes.

brown

A brown spore print is one of the most widespread spore colours and is typical of Cortinarius, Galerina, Pholiota and many other earth-toned genera. Because so many unrelated groups share it, spore colour alone rarely finishes an identification here.

buff

Buff is a pale, soft yellowish-brown between cream and ochre. It is a classic Lactarius spore print colour and also occurs across the Russula family and some Cortinarius species, where it sits close to cream or ochre and needs a good light to judge.

cream

Cream is off-white warmed with a pale yellow tint, the spore colour of many Clitocybe, Tricholoma and some Russula. Together with white it is the most common spore colour, and distinguishing cream from pure white or buff takes a fresh print and good light.

green

Green is a rare spore colour in mushrooms, and in Europe it is the signature of the genus Chlorophyllum — including the toxic Chlorophyllum molybdites look-alike lineage. A green print separates them at once from the white-spored Macrolepiota parasols.

ochre

Ochre is a warm, earthy yellow-brown — deeper and yellower than buff, brighter than plain brown. It is typical of many Cortinarius and heap-spore genera and of the fibrous caps of Inocybe.

olive

Olive is a drab, green-tinged brown between ochre and green. It is the spore colour of several Stropharia and Gomphidius, and the olive tinge is the character that separates them from their plain-brown relatives.

olive brown

Olive brown is a brown spore print carrying a distinct olive or greenish cast — darker than olive yet browner than a plain brown. It occurs in some Stropharia, Coprinopsis and dark-spored genera where the olive tone is an extra clue.

pink

A pink spore print is the family colour of the pink-spored groups: Pluteus, Entoloma, Clitopilus and related genera. Mature gills of these species turn the same pink, which is why the spore colour and the older gill colour point the same way.

pinkish brown

Pinkish brown is a spore print that mixes pink and brown, sitting between the pink of Pluteus-type groups and the buff or tan of the russula family. Values on its edge are hard to name without a fresh, thick print in daylight.

purple

Purple is a rare spore colour in mushrooms, and when it appears it is usually as a purple-black rather than a bright violet. A distinctly purple print narrows the field to a very few groups and is a striking identification clue when you see it.

purple-black

Purple-black is the spore colour of the true mushrooms, the genus Agaricus: a very dark, nearly black print that carries a purplish wash when viewed against the light. It is one of the few spore colours a field forager can name with confidence.

purple-brown

Purple-brown is a dark spore print that blends brown with a violet tinge, sitting between plain brown and purple-black. It occurs across the agaric family tree in the dark-spored groups, where the strength of the purple cast is itself a character.

salmon

Salmon is a pink-orange spore colour, warmer and more orange than plain pink. It is characteristic of a few pink-spored groups such as Clitopilus and Rhodocybe, where the orange cast separates them from the cooler pinks of the Entolomas.

tan

Tan is a light, leathery brown between cream and the deeper browns, common in many of the ground-dwelling gilled mushrooms. It is near neighbours buff and ochre on one side and brown on the other, so the colour is usually one more clue than a verdict.

white

A white spore print is the classic result of many cap mushrooms — Amanita, Lepiota, Russula, Mycena and a host of others. Because so many genera share it, white spore colour is usually paired with gill colour and habitat rather than standing alone.

yellow

Yellow is an uncommon spore colour, brighter than buff or ochre and lacking their brown. It occurs in parts of the Russula and Cortinarius genera and some waxy caps, and a genuinely yellow print is distinctive enough to deserve a second look.

yellow-orange

Yellow-orange is a spore colour that blends yellow with orange, warmer than plain yellow and brighter than ochre. It is recorded in a few of the russulas and yellow-tinged waxy caps, where it separates them from their cleaner-yellow relatives.

yellow-brown

Yellow-brown is a warm spore print in which yellow tints the brown, sitting between ochre and plain brown. It is typical of several Cortinarius species and parts of the russula family, where the yellowness is another step in the same colour drift.

bordeaux

Bordeaux is a deep, wine-red spore colour, named for the colour of red wine. It is rare among mushrooms — typically indicating a very specific group — and is the kind of print worth photographing, because so few species show it.

red-orange

Red-orange is a vivid spore colour leaning into red rather than yellow. It is uncommon enough that a confirmed red-orange print narrows the options sharply, though like every spore colour it is read together with gill colour and structure.

Ecology

mycorrhiza

Mycorrhiza is the symbiotic partnership between a fungus and a plant’s roots: the fungus trades water and minerals it collects from the soil for sugars the plant makes. Most sought-after forest mushrooms — boletes, chanterelles, Amanita — are mycorrhizal, which is why they cannot be cultivated and why they appear only around their host trees.

saprobiont

A saprobiont (saprophyte) lives by decomposing dead organic matter — leaf litter, dung, wood. Unlike mycorrhizal species it needs no living host tree, which is why saprobic mushrooms (many Mycena, Psathyrella, shelf fungi) fruit directly on dead wood and are easy to grow.

parasitism

Parasitic fungi feed on a living host — a tree, insect or other fungus — at the host’s expense. Armillaria honey fungus is a notorious tree parasite; the Cordyceps lineage parasitises insects. The same individual can slip between lifestyles, as many "saprobic" fungi also attack live trees.

nematophagous fungus

A nematophagous fungus supplements its diet by trapping and digesting nematodes (roundworms) — with sticky nets, adhesive knobs or constricting rings. The strategy is widespread in soil fungi; on the species page it is recorded for the Cordyceps/Hypocreales line.

Edibility

choice mushroom

A "choice" (French comestible de choix) mushroom is one of the most prized edible species — lofty, meaty, with excellent flavour. The label is a forager’s judgement of quality, not a safety rating: correct identification is assumed, and these pages are not a field guide.

edible mushroom

An edible mushroom is one that is safe to eat and is generally treated as food. On these pages the record comes from the reference data, and it says nothing about preparation: some species need cooking or careful cleaning, and individual tolerance differs. Identification is assumed.

inedible mushroom

An inedible mushroom is not poisonous but is not eaten either, because it is too tough, bitter, slimy or odorous — or so bland there is no point. The word is about palatability, not safety: "not worth eating" is a different verdict from "do not eat".

caution mushroom

A caution mushroom is edible only with caveats: it may be mistaken for a poisonous relative, needs long cooking to become safe or digestible, or disagrees with some people even when properly prepared. The record is a warning to know exactly what you have before eating.

psychoactive mushroom

A psychoactive mushroom contains compounds that alter perception and mood, the best known being psilocybin and its relatives in Psilocybe and allies. Possession and use are regulated across most of Europe; these pages record the property for identification only, never as encouragement.

allergenic mushroom

An allergenic mushroom triggers allergic or intolerance reactions in some people — nausea, skin rashes or worse — while being harmless to most others. It is a property of the eater as much as of the mushroom, which is why the record cannot be a simple yes-or-no eating advice.

deadly mushroom

A deadly mushroom contains poisons capable of causing death, usually by damaging the liver or kidneys. The amatoxin group — the death cap Amanita phalloides and its allies — accounts for the overwhelming majority of fatal poisonings in Europe, and symptoms often appear only a day or more after eating.

edible when cooked

An edible-when-cooked mushroom is toxic or at least strongly disagreeable raw, but becomes safe after thorough cooking destroys the heat-labile compounds. A number of common species fall into this group, so the "edible" label always carries the cooking caveat with it.

medicinal mushrooms

Medicinal mushrooms are fungi used in traditional medicine or the subject of pharmacological research — Ganoderma (reishi), Inonotus obliquus (chaga), Trametes versicolor (turkey tail). The term describes a traditional and research use, not a medical recommendation; these pages are not health advice.

poisonous mushroom

A poisonous mushroom contains toxins that make a person ill if eaten, with effects ranging from digestive upset and sweating to severe organ damage. Many do not look threatening and several are confused with sought-after species, which is why every rule on these pages begins with identification.

Nomenclature

basionym

The basionym is the name a species received when it was first described. When later research moves it into another genus, the original name becomes the basionym and the original author appears in parentheses — both part of how a name is uniquely pinned down. Example: Suillellus luridus was first described as Boletus luridus, so its basionym is the older Boletus name, and its author citation carries parentheses because the species has since moved genus.

accepted name

The accepted name is the scientific name currently treated as correct by the taxonomic reference (here, Index Fungorum via Catalogue of Life). Every other published combination for the same species is a synonym or a former name. Names change as taxonomy is revised, so the accepted name can differ from the one a species page uses — and that is not an error.

synonym

A synonym is a name that points at the same species as the accepted name but is no longer the one in use, usually because the species was moved to another genus or the name was published twice. Listing the synonym history is how a page says "this name and that name are the same fungus".

infraspecific variation

An infraspecific variation is a named rank below the species level, printed after the species name: variety (var.), subspecies (subsp.) or form (f.). Varieties and forms are the ones most often recorded on the species pages — the name splits into base + rank abbreviation + varietal name.

var. (variety)

A variety (abbreviated var.) is a rank below species. It names a wild population that keeps its distinguishing features when it reproduces, but is not considered distinct enough to be a subspecies or a species of its own. Many older mycological names are varieties that have since been raised to species or sunk into synonymy.

subsp. (subspecies)

A subspecies (abbreviated subsp., also ssp.) is a population of a species that is distinct enough — usually by geography or host — to be named, but not enough to be a separate species. In mycology it is less common than the variety and form ranks.

f. (forma)

A form (abbreviated f., also written forma) is the lowest rank used below the species level. It marks a minor, often single-feature variant — an albino, a colour form, a smooth or scaly form — that turns up sporadically within a population rather than defining a separate geographic or host race. Mycologists apply it more loosely than botanists do.

f.sp. (forma specialis)

A forma specialis (abbreviated f.sp., plural formae speciales) is a rank used mainly for parasitic fungi: the forms look alike but each specialises in a particular host species or plant family. It is common among crop pathogens such as rusts and smuts, where the host range — not the morphology — is the defining character.

author citation

The author citation is the name (and year) of the person who first validly published a scientific name, e.g. "Fr." for Elias Fries. Names can coincide, so the author splits otherwise identical strings apart. Parentheses around the author mean the species was first described under a different genus — the basionym author — with the transferring author listed after.