Mushrooms of Nebraska

Kerrigan's Champion (Agaricus kerriganii) is a brown-spored gilled mushroom that grows in soil in wooded habitats. It can be found from late summer to early fall in Oak and Pine forests. It has a skirt on the stem without a cup at the stem base. It bruises yellow.

Morphology

• Cap shape evenly rounded to half-sphere, later becoming flat to centrally depressed with age. 1.5-2.5 inches (4-6 cm) wide.
• Texture smooth and dry. Ornamentation can be silky to scaly. Grayish brown becoming more brown towards the center of the cap.
• The gills are free from the stem. The gill color is light pink when young, becoming darker pink, then becoming brown with age. This is due to brown spores maturing on the gill surface over time.
• Stem with a membranous skirt on the top half and a bulb on the base. Sometimes curved. 1.2-2 inches (3-5 cm) long.
• Bruising yellow where handled. Bruising red with age and decomposition.
• Spore print brown.

The Slinder-Stemmed Champion (Agaricus leptocaulis) is a decomposer that can be found in soil in mixed woods from late summer to early fall. It has been reported in the Midwest to the East Coast. It can be found growing alone or in small groups. The cap and stem bruise yellow where handled.

Morphology

The cap shape is evenly rounded to broadly rounded, becoming flat with age. Sometimes with a slight umbo. Sometimes splitting radially at the margin. The cap texture is smooth and dry. The color is grayish-brown with brown scales that are more densely collected at the center than the margin.

The gills are free from the stem. The gill color is light pink when young, becoming darker pink, then becoming brown with age. This is due to brown spores maturing on the gill surface over time.

The stem features an elastic pendant-shaped skirt on the top half and a small bulb on the base. Sometimes curved. 1.5-4.5 inches long (3.5-11.5 cm) × 0.3-0.5 inches wide (8-14 mm).

The odor ranges from indistinct to pleasant to phenolic (like band-aids or glue). The spore print is brown.

The Flat-Top Champion (Agaricus placomyces) is a decomposer that can be found in soil from summer through fall. It can be found in mixed woods. This species of Agaricus grow quite large and mature caps can be flat (plane) with a darker-colored center. The gills start pinkish colored and turn to dark brown with age. It has a brown spore print.

The Scaber Stem Agrocybe (Agrocybe firma) is a decomposer that grows on dead hardwood logs in wooded areas and can be found summer through fall. It is mostly distributed west of the Great Plains.

It has a dark, firm cap without lines at the margin. Gills that are narrowly attached to the stem that start white-colored then turn dull brown. The stem is distinctly ornamented with scale-like tufts of white fibrils that turn brown with age. Annulus and volva are absent. It can be found fruiting in clusters or, rarely, alone.

The Wrinkled Fieldcap (Agrocybe rivulosa) is a brown-spored, gilled decomposer that grows in soil in woodland settings.

It has a wrinkled cap top surface that is mostly white becoming tan towards the center. The stem is relatively long, has a ring (annulus), and has an abrupt bulb at the base with white "roots" (pseudorhizomorphs). The gills are slightly attached to the stem and begin light-colored and turn more brown with maturity.

The Moth Urchin Fungus (Akanthomyces aculeatus) is a fungus that parasitizes and consumes adult moths. The mycelium creates a thick mat that encompasses the moth and sometimes adheres to adjacent surfaces. It can be found in the summer through fall in moist habitats. As the fungus grows, spear-shaped spikes protrude outward making it look like a sea urchin. The clubs produce spores in order to infect more insects. Spooky!

The Spider Akanthomyces (Akanthomyces aranearum) is an entomopathogenic mushroom that can be found in the summer. Its preferred hosts are spiders and can be found in riparian areas.

This fungus is not found often because of its tiny size, making it not well understood. However, as North American mycology matures in the next decades we hope to understand more about this interesting organism. The name "aranearum" stands for "of the spiders". It refers to the order of true spiders, Araneae, which is the host of choice for this fungal parasite.

Oct 11, 2023 Field Characteristics:

• Growing locally abundant on American Hophornbeam tree in mixed oak/hickory woodland
• Sporocarps disc-shaped, slightly concaved, and light tan with a lighter ( almost white) margin.
• Spore Print: white

The American Blusher (Amanita amerirubescens) is a mycorrhizal mushroom that can be found in Oak and Pine-dominated woods mostly during the summer but also into early fall. It is a gilled mushroom that can be found in the soil, has large membranous skirt, and has a bulbous base without a volva. It stains red and has a white spore print.

This species hasn't been described formally in North America yet, and is under the provisional name Amanita "rubescens-02".

This mushroom has not been formally described in North America yet and has the provisional name Amanita "flavoconia-03".

This is a deadly poisonous mushroom. Please see Deadly Mushrooms of Nebraska by C. Brueggemann where it is treated as Amanita bisporigera.

The Great Felt Skirt Destroying Angel is a mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in soil in wooded habitats in the summer. It is white, has a membranous skirt on the stem, and has a bulbous base with a volva.

Amanita fuscozonata is a mycorrhizal mushroom that can be found in the spring through summer. It is suspected to associate with a range of deciduous trees (especially Oak) and possibly conifers on occasion. It is widespread in Eastern North America. Also known as Amanita longicuneus.

The cap is colored brownish with a darker center. The cap has a lined pattern (striations) from the margin to about halfway to the center of the cap. The gills are free from the stem to narrowly attached (acutely adnexed). The stem has no ring (annulus), and has a unique sack like volva at the base.

The main distinguishing characteristic is what is called an "internal limb" (limbus internus) on its volva. From R. E. Tulloss:

"The distinguishing character of this species (within its known range) is the form of the internal limb of the volva. When the fruiting body is cut in half lengthwise, the volval sac is seen to have two limbs. The outer limb covered the entire mushroom during its early development. The inner limb (which also completely encircles the stem), was between the stem and what became the free edges of the gills during development. In this species, the shape of the cross-sectioned inner limb is that of a very long and narrow wedge." (Tulloss, 2024)

The White Panther (Amanita multisquamosa) is a presumed toxic, mycorrhizal mushroom that fruits in the summer in woodland settings. These have been observed in Indian Cave State Park in eastern Nebraska in an Oak/Hickory woodland.

The fruiting body is mostly white, with a yellow or tan cap center. The cap is adorned with white, removable warts. The gill attachment is free to nearly attached (acutely adnexed), and the gill spacing is crowded. This species usually features a skirt of tissue on the stem (annulus), but sometimes the skirt falls off and/or is eaten by bugs. It has a bulbous base with a collar-like cup (volva) and sometimes transient velar tissue extending further up the stem.

This is a mycorrhizal mushroom that grows in soil and can be found in the summer and fall east of the Rocky Mountains. It has a ring (annulus) on the upper side of the stem and a sack-like cup (volva) at the base. It can be found associating with Oak and other broadleaf trees.

Amanita sp-NE01 is a mycorrhizal mushroom that can be found in the summer in woodland settings. This one was found growing from a moss pad in an Oak/Hickory forest at Indian Cave State Park in eastern Nebraska.

The cap is colored light tan. The pattern on the cap are lines (striations) that go from the cap margin to 1/2 to the center of the cap. The gills are free from the stem to narrowly attached to it (acutely adnexed). The stem does not have a ring (annulus) and it has a cup at the base (volva). The volva looks like a sheath or a loose membranous sock on the base of the stem.

The Garlic-Odored Death Cap is a white to cream spore-colored mycorrhizal mushroom that associates mostly with Oak and Pine trees east of the Rocky Mountains. This species is considered deadly poisonous.

It has free, white gills. The stem has a ring (annulus) near the top and a sack-like cup (volva) at the base.

The Pear-shaped Puffball (Apioperdon pyriforme) is a decomposer of wood and can be found from the fall through the early winter. It can be recognized by its gregarious growth habit (growing in groups) and numerous mycelium ropes growing through the wood (rhizomorphs).

When young, the "pear-shaped" fruiting bodies have a white-colored interior that later turns brown with age. They split open at a single pore on the top of fruiting body from which they disperse their spores via wind, rain, and other disturbances. The spore print is brown.

The White Honey Mushroom (Armillaria gallica) is a decomposer of wood and can be found in the fall. It has a widespread distribution in Eastern Nebraska from Indian Cave State Park to the Niobrara Valley Preserve (Mee-Sook & Klopfenstein, 2011). A. gallica can be found in areas of dead trees decomposing wood and buried roots and is common in wooded areas and occasional lawns (decomposing tree roots).

The cap is ornamented with distinct scaly hairs that are more abundant toward the center of the stem as the mushroom matures.

The gill color is whitish. The gills are attached to the stem and sometimes have a short bit that runs down the stem (decurrent tooth).

This species has a high degree of color variation. The specimen below has a whiter base color with darker cap scales than the one above.

Fruiting bodies grow alone or in small clusters. The stem shape has an enlarged base (bulbous). It has a ring (annulus) that is cobwebby to membranous in composition. It does not have a cup at the base (volva). The spore print is white.

October 24th, 2023 Field Notes - Indian Cave State Park

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Observed At: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 10:31 AM Created At: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 10:31 AM Last Modified At: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 11:07 AM locations: 40.254601173049124 -95.55665001723096 Form Group: Smell: pencil eraser Form Group: agaric Substrate: Substrate: terrestrial, lignicolous Growth Habit: Growth Habit: gregarious Habitat: Habitat: ( Growth Habit: gregarious, Substrate: terrestrial, lignicolous, Associated Trees: ( Carya cordiformis ) ) Associated Trees: Associated Trees: ( Carya cordiformis ) Cap: Pileus: ( Shape: ( Top view: orbicular; Profile: convex to plane to umbo to broadly umbonate ); Surface: ( texture: squamose [1]; moisture: dry-silky; color: cinnamon to pinkish buff to buff to curry-yellow to clay-pink to peach to salmon to flesh-pink [2]; koh color: brownish red [3] ) ) Shape: Shape: ( Top view: orbicular; Profile: convex to plane to umbo to broadly umbonate ) Surface: Surface: ( texture: squamose [4]; moisture: dry-silky; color: cinnamon to pinkish buff to buff to curry-yellow to clay-pink to peach to salmon to flesh-pink [5]; koh color: brownish red [6] ) Gills: Lamellae: ( Attachment: uncinate to adnate [7] ) Stem: Stipe: ( shape: clavate to terete to compressed; surface: fibrous; flexibility: firm; interior: solid to stuffed with pith ) Annulus: Annulus: ( Shape: subperonate ) Footnotes: [1] White to brown scales [2] Curry yellow bruising at the base [3] Turning reddish brown at yellow stem base [4] White to brown scales [5] Curry yellow bruising at the base [6] Turning reddish brown at yellow stem base [7] Sinuate

Spore Print: white

Field Characteristics:

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Observed At: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 2:50 PM Created At: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 2:49 PM Last Modified At: Tuesday, October 24, 2023 2:54 PM locations: 40.260730859128394 -95.55750996386556 Form Group: Form Group: agaric Substrate: Substrate: terrestrial Growth Habit: Growth Habit: connate Habitat: In low draw adjacent to creek in oak hickory woodland Cap: Pileus: ( Shape: ( Top view: orbicular; Profile: plane to broadly convex to convex ) ) Shape: Shape: ( Top view: orbicular; Profile: plane to broadly convex to convex ) Stem: Stipe: ( interior: stuffed with pith [1] ) Annulus: Annulus: ( Texture: membranous to fibrillose ) Footnotes: [1] Inner pith as cottony threads.

The Yellow Honey Mushroom (Armillaria mellea) is a decomposer and tree parasite that can be found growing in large clusters in wooded areas at the base of trees and fallen logs in the fall. It is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere.

This mushroom grows in large clusters at the base of trees and fallen wood. The cap shape is evenly rounded becoming flat with age. The cap is ornamented with brownish scales that are especially abundant towards the center. The scales can wear off with age.

The gill color is whitish. The gills are attached to the stem usually with a small tooth running down the stem.

The stem color starts out a golden yellowish when young generally turning whitish or brownish with age. There is a membranous ring (annulus) on the stem. The shape of the base of the stem is usually pointed due to the mushrooms growing in clusters. The spore print is white.

In addition to the mushroom, Armillaria mellea grows a network black rope-like structures of mycelium (rhizomorphs) that spread through the forest and are parasitic on trees.

September 19th, 2022 Field Notes - Indian Cave State Park

Growing at the base of dead northern red oak tree on open oak woodland ridge.

October 11, 2023 Field Characteristics:

• Primordial specimens growing at the base of hardwood tree in mixed oak/hickory woodland.
• Caps round, firm with yellow scaber-like structures on pileipellis.
• Stipes yellow and firm.

The Brown Goblet (Arrhenia epichysium) is a gilled mushroom that can be found on dead logs with moss spring through fall. It has a "belly-button" shaped cap that starts blackish or gray-brown and fades with age and is 1/2-2 inches (1.5-5 cm) wide. Its gills run down the stem (decurrent) and are light-colored. It has white spores.

May 17, 2023 Field Characteristics:

Growing on the logs of a large hardwood tree in a large moist oak/hickory woodland draw.

The Eastern Tangerine Athena (Atheniella leptophylla) is a decomposer of duff and wood, and can be found in September in woodland areas. It is small, grows alone or in small groups, and has a Mycenoid stature, sharing features with the genus Mycena.

Cap: convex or bell-shaped, and sometimes papillate (with a nipple-shaped umbo). The surface is smooth and presents a striped pattern when moist from the gills underneath (translucent-striate). It is pale reddish-yellow, brighter toward the center (disc), and becomes pleated at the margin with age.

Gills: close, narrow, and attached to the stem with a decurrent tooth (uncinate), yellowish to whitish in color.

Stem: slender, hollow, smooth at the apex and center with coarse fibrils towards the base.

Spore Print: white.

Etymology: leptophylla comes from the Greek roots lepto- meaning "slender" and -phylla meaning "leaf" or "gill," referring to its thin gills.

The Earpick Fungus (Auriscalpium vulgare) is distinctive mushroom can be found growing alone or in small groups on buried pine cones and in the spring, fall, and winter. It is widely distributed throughout North America. It is brownish-red, distinctively kidney-shaped from the top, with a stem attached to the side of the cap, and with white spines underneath. The spore print is white

June 18th, 2024 Field Notes - Niobrara Valley Preserve:

• Growing on Ponderosa pine cone on the upper slope of spring-branch canyon.

The American Tree Ear is a decomposer of dead broadleaf wood and can be found in the spring through fall. It is a common mushroom that is widely distributed in North America (and possibly further).

The fruiting body takes the form a jelly-like structure. The shape is "ear"-shaped, fan-shaped, cup-shaped, and variations in-between. The color is brownish to reddish-brown becoming darker colors as it dries out. The spore print is white.

A good time to search for this mushroom are after a period of consistent, heavy rains.

May 16th, 2023 Field Notes - Indian Cave State Park

Growing on fallen Shagbark Hickory limb in large oak/hickory woodland draw.

• Exidia glandulosa growing in close proximity on the same substrate.

The Icing Sugar Fungus (Beauveria bassiana) is a widespread insect pathogen that can be found year-round infecting various species of hosts. The fungi erupt out of the joints of the insect exoskeleton as a white, powdery mass full of reproductive spores. This species infects a wide range of arthropod species. It has been used as a natural insecticide to combat a wide range of insects.

In many Ascomycetes, species can have multiple life stages. A stage where they make asexual spores via mitosis (anamorphic phase) and a life stage where they make sexual spores via meiosis (teleomorphic phase). Beauveria species are an anamorph for matching Cordyceps teleomorph. Past mycological convention was to separate these two forms into different species (like Beauveria and Cordyceps), and modern convention is to group them into one species. In the future, we may see the genus Beauveria disappear in favor of their respective teleomorphic Cordyceps species.

Hypoxylon Canker (Biscogniauxia atropunctata) is a crust that grows on Oak and can be found year-round.

The Dung-Loving Bolbitius (Bolbitius coprophilus) is a widespread gilled mushroom that grows on... (you guessed it) dung! It can also be found on compost, and other nitrogen-rich organic substrates. It grows alone or in groups (singular or gregarious). Its gills are slightly attached to the stem (acutely adnexed). B. coprophilus has a brownish spore print (dull cinnamon brown).

The Viscid Bolbitius (Bolbitius viscosus) is a small mushroom that grows on dead broadleaf trees. It can be found in spring through fall. Its cap width is generally no larger than 3/4 inch (2 cm). Cap surface colors range from gray-olive, to red, orange, and brown.

The cap surface can be slimy to tacky, so much so that it can literally stick to your hands. Its gills are attached to or pulling away from the stem. It has a cinnamon-brown spore print.

Field Characteristics:

#171

-Growing gregariously from soil in open mixed oak woodland with a few Ash trees in close proximity.

-Hymenium and inner flesh instantly bruising blue, later fading back close to original color.

-Younger caps with tomentose pileipellis while older specimens matte to shiny.

-Taste: earthy, similar to dirt. Smell: not distinctive.

The Smoky Polypore can be distinguished by its gray-to-black pore surface in contrast to its pale cap surface. It is widespread across the continent and can be found year-round. It grows in large, shelving clusters on wood that stack on top of each other at the same time growing as a crust (effused-reflexed). The specimens pictured here are relatively young.

October 24, 2023 Field Notes

• Effused-reflexed.
• Nonfertile surface white to buff yellow.
• Hymenophore grayish. Smell strong and pleasant. “Bringing fond memories of from the pool as a kid”-Chance “It’s not the chlorine, it’s the fresh, “watery” smell”