Best Inedible

A bioluminescent mushroom native to subtropical Asia and the Pacific that emits a green glow from its cap and gills, among the most studied of the roughly 80 luminescent fungal species.

The parrot waxcap, a small slimy European grassland and woodland species recognized by its cap cycling through green, yellow, and pink hues as it matures from a sticky emerald button.

A mycorrhizal agaric of European and North American forests entirely deep violet when fresh, making it one of the most visually distinctive species in the genus Cortinarius.

The crimson waxcap, one of the largest European waxcap species, a glossy scarlet agaric restricted to ancient unfertilized grasslands and used as an indicator in habitat conservation surveys.

The wrinkled peach, a declining European and eastern North American saprotrophic agaric restricted to dying elm logs, notable for its pink gelatinous wrinkled cap surface.

The scarlet waxcap, a brightly colored European grassland agaric considered a key bioindicator of ancient undisturbed pastures and featured in grassland conservation assessments.

A striking yellow-orange, densely scaly mushroom growing in clusters on conifer logs and stumps in montane forests across Europe and western North America.

A bioluminescent saprotrophic bracket fungus distributed across North America, Europe, and Asia, historically used as a styptic agent and among the most intensely luminescent fungi known.

Known as tinder fungus or hoof fungus, this perennial bracket fungus has been used for fire-starting for millennia and was carried by Ötzi the Iceman circa 3300 BCE.

Ganoderma applanatum, the artist's conk, is a perennial bracket fungus found worldwide whose white pore surface bruises brown when marked, making it a substrate traditionally used for drawings and engravings.

Fomitopsis pinicola is a brown rot fungus causing significant timber degradation, designated as the type species for the Fomitopsis genus in 1881.

Helvella crispa, the white saddle, is a common European and North American ascomycete with a pale, wavy saddle-shaped cap and prominently ribbed white stipe, fruiting in autumn woodland habitats.

Hygrocybe virginea is a pure white waxy cap mushroom originally described by Elias Fries in 1821 that serves as a grassland ecological indicator.

Fragile white spindle-shaped coral fungus forming dense tufts in unimproved grasslands across Europe and North America, one of the simplest Clavaria species.

A perennial woody bracket fungus parasitic on willows and other hardwoods, producing hoof-shaped conks historically used as tinder and in traditional folk medicine.

Helvella lacunosa, the elfin saddle, is a widespread ascomycete across the Northern Hemisphere identified by its deeply ribbed and lacunose grey stipe and irregularly lobed, saddle-shaped dark cap.

A small, bell-capped saprotrophic mushroom that grows in dense tufts on decaying conifer wood across boreal and temperate forests of the Northern Hemisphere.

Known as oak mazegill, this bracket fungus on oak stumps is distinguished by exceptionally thick, maze-like (daedaloid) gill-pores among the most distinctive in polypores.

A bright orange saprotrophic mushroom growing on dead wood across North America and Europe, notable for producing one of the most distinctly unpleasant odors of any gilled fungus.

Collared parachute, a tiny woodland mushroom uniquely identified by gill-like ribs connecting to a free collar around the stipe rather than attaching directly to it.

A bracket fungus widespread on dead hardwoods across temperate zones, distinguished by its densely hairy gray cap and cream-colored pore surface causing white rot.

Phlebiopsis gigantea is a crust fungus commercially utilized as a biological control against conifer root rot, originally described by Elias Fries in 1815.

Inonotus dryadeus is a large bracket fungus that causes severe heart rot in living oak trees, first described by mycologist Christiaan Persoon in 1801.

A morphologically variable polypore found at the base of living and dead deciduous trees across Europe and North America, capable of causing significant white rot.

A bracket fungus with a distinctly hairy, rusty-brown surface, parasitic mainly on ash trees across Europe and North America, causing white rot in host wood.

A bracket fungus common on beech stumps in Europe and North America, notable for its distinctly humped cap surface and elongated, slot-like pores.

Mycena inclinata is a dense cluster-forming mushroom recognized by its hairy, yellow-brown stem, first validly described by Elias Fries in 1838.

A tough, fan-shaped saprotrophic mushroom found on dead hardwood in Europe and North America, notable for its pale lilac-tinged gills that fade to buff with age.

A resupinate wood-decay fungus found on dead hardwood across the Northern Hemisphere, recognizable by its wrinkled, radiating, orange-pink fruiting body.