mushroom

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Images, Videos & Interactives

gilled mushroom

A young adult wearing overalls and a baseball hat in nature. A paper cutout with images of berries, nuts, and

A white mushroom surounded by leaves.

Two Amanita pantherina mushrooms with brown caps covered in white spots grow among moss and fallen leaves.

A tall white mushroom in the forest.

A ring of white mushrooms grows in a circle on the forest floor among grass and leaf litter, with trees and shrubs surrounding the area.

Several Ganoderma applanatum, or artist's bracket fungi, grow in horizontal shelves with brown tops and white edges on the trunk of a mossy tree.

Illustration of a red-capped mushroom wearing a red cape next to bold text reading 'Can fungi save the world?' with a smokestack in the background.

Small brown mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.

A single death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides, with a pale greenish cap and white gills, grows from the forest floor among fallen leaves and branches.

At a Glance

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mushroom summary

mushroom: Media

fungus

Videos

A young adult wearing overalls and a baseball hat in nature. A paper cutout with images of berries, nuts, and

What We Can Learn (and Eat) Urban Foraging

Is the message behind urban foraging: “Don't eat that”?

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

A white mushroom surounded by leaves.

Can You Tell Edible Mushrooms from Poisonous Ones?

Eat with caution.

Video: © American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

A tall white mushroom in the forest.

Do Mushrooms Need Sunlight?

What is food for a mushroom? That depends.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Illustration of a red-capped mushroom wearing a red cape next to bold text reading 'Can fungi save the world?' with a smokestack in the background.

The Tiny Fungi Fighting Climate Change

These aren't your average mushrooms.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Small brown mushrooms growing at the base of a tree.

Are Fungi Plants?

There are fungus among us. How well do we understand them?

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Witness the growing and dying of the fly agaric

Witness the growing and dying of the fly agaric

Time-lapse video, filmed by Neil Bromhall, of the growing and dying of the fly agaric...

Video: Video by Neil Bromhall; music, Musopen.org (A Britannica Publishing Partner)

The role of fungi in forest decomposition

The role of fungi in forest decomposition

The role of fungi in the decomposition of forest litter.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Behold a time-lapse video of a mushroom cap's emergence from the ground

Behold a time-lapse video of a mushroom cap's emergence from the ground

Time-lapse photography of a mushroom's cap (pileus) emerging from the ground

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Witness a group of mushrooms growing underwater and revealing gills on their caps' undersides

Witness a group of mushrooms growing underwater and revealing gills on their caps' undersides

Time-lapse photography of mushrooms growing. Spores are produced on gills visible...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

See the mechanical growth of mushroom as they survive feeding on plants and animals

See the mechanical growth of mushroom as they survive feeding on plants and animals

The primary mechanism of fungal growth is through the elongation of hyphae. The complex...

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Study the different ways mushrooms release spores and watch mold hyphae spread across bread

Study the different ways mushrooms release spores and watch mold hyphae spread across bread

Fungi produce billions of spores that give rise to new generations of fungi.

Video: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Images

gilled mushroom

gilled mushroom

Close-up of mushroom growing on field.

© Karim Qubadi—500px/Getty Images

Two Amanita pantherina mushrooms with brown caps covered in white spots grow among moss and fallen leaves.

Poisonous panther cap mushrooms

A pair of panther cap mushrooms (Amanita pantherina). Closely related to...

© asfloro/stock.adobe.com

A ring of white mushrooms grows in a circle on the forest floor among grass and leaf litter, with trees and shrubs surrounding the area.

Fairy ring

A fairy ring of mushrooms.

© FotoHelin/Shutterstock.com

Several Ganoderma applanatum, or artist's bracket fungi, grow in horizontal shelves with brown tops and white edges on the trunk of a mossy tree.

artist's conk

Artist's conk (Ganoderma applanatum), a bracket fungi. Distributed worldwide,...

© flafabri/stock.adobe.com

A single death cap mushroom, Amanita phalloides, with a pale greenish cap and white gills, grows from the forest floor among fallen leaves and branches.

Deadly death cap

Death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides).

© Dariusz Majgier/Shutterstock.com

honey mushroom

honey mushroom

Honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea)

H.R. Allen—NHPA/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

honey mushroom

honey mushroom

A cluster of honey mushrooms (Armillaria mellea).

Strobilomyces

Amanita pantherina, commonly called panther cap, is a type of toadstool, an inedible or poisonous mushroom.

Amanita pantherina, commonly called panther cap, is a type of toadstool,...

L. Hugh Newman—NHPA/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

A mushroom typically consists of a stalk (stipe) and a cap (pileus). As the mushroom develops from an underground mycelium and pushes upward, it is protected by a thin membrane (universal veil), which eventually ruptures, leaving fragments on the cap. Another membrane, attaching the cap to the stalk, also ruptures, allowing the cap to expand and leaving a remnant ring (annulus) on the stalk. Radiating rows of gills are found on the cap's undersurface; these bear the club-shaped reproductive structures (basidia) which form minute spores known as basidiospores, of which a single mushroom may produce millions.

A mushroom typically consists of a stalk (stipe) and a cap (pileus). As the mushroom...

© Merriam-Webster Inc.

Interactives

Infographic titled Mushrooms: Food or Foe shows a 2x2 matrix of mushrooms categorized as common, rare, poisonous, and gourmet, with labeled photos such as death cap, white button, and white truffle.

Edible vs. poisonous mushrooms

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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