Mushédex

One of the most beginner-friendly species. Extremely fast colonization and very forgiving of minor contamination. Excellent for first-time growers.

Tropical species that thrives in warm conditions. Stunning pink/salmon color fades when cooked. Very fast colonizer.

Cold-weather variety of oyster mushroom. Produces beautiful blue-grey clusters. Prefers cooler temperatures than pearl oyster.

Thick, meaty stems make it a prized culinary mushroom. Prefers cooler fruiting temperatures. Higher CO2 tolerance produces longer, thicker stems.

One of the world's most cultivated mushrooms. Requires cold shocking to initiate fruiting. Long colonization but very rewarding multi-year harvests on logs.

Prized for powerful nootropic and neuroprotective properties. Requires very high humidity and fresh air exchange. Browning indicates CO2 stress.

Highly prized culinary and medicinal mushroom. Extremely long colonization time. Most successfully cultivated outdoors on buried oak logs.

Commercial enoki requires cold temperatures and high CO2 to produce the long, thin white stems seen in stores. Wild enoki has a very different appearance.

Popular in Japanese cuisine, especially miso soup. The natural gelatinous coating is a key culinary feature. Requires cold fruiting temperatures.

Beautiful caramel-brown caps with a rich nutty flavor. Grows in dense clusters. Popular in Asian cuisine.

Excellent outdoor species for garden beds and wood chip mulch. One of the largest cultivated mushrooms. Very rewarding for outdoor growers.

One of the most revered medicinal fungi in traditional Chinese medicine. Long cultivation time but extremely valuable. Spore release can coat everything in reddish-brown powder.

One of the most studied medicinal mushrooms. PSK extract (Krestin) is an approved cancer adjunct therapy in Japan. Beautiful multicolored concentric rings.

Parasitic fungus that grows exclusively on birch trees in cold northern climates. Essentially impossible to cultivate — wild harvest only. Takes decades to grow naturally.

Cultivatable alternative to the rare wild C. sinensis. Produces bright orange finger-like fruiting bodies. Requires careful humidity and light management.

Beyond culinary use, shiitake contains lentinan — a polysaccharide used in cancer treatment in Japan. The dried form concentrates medicinal compounds.

Most widely cultivated psychedelic species. Robust, forgiving, and well-studied. Hundreds of named strains with varying potency and appearance. Legal status varies by jurisdiction.

One of the most potent psilocybin-containing species known. Outdoor cultivation only in cold coastal climates. Native to the Pacific Northwest coast of North America.

Cold-weather outdoor species with distinctive wavy cap margins. Commonly found naturalized in wood chip garden beds. Significantly more potent than P. cubensis.

Tropical dung-loving species with 2–3x the potency of P. cubensis. Requires warm, humid conditions. Pronounced blue bruising reaction.

One of the most widely distributed psilocybin mushrooms. Found in grasslands across Europe and North America. Not cultivatable — wild harvest only. Iconic conical cap with distinctive nipple.

One of the most prized edible mushrooms in the world. Forms mycorrhizal relationships — extremely difficult to cultivate. Found near dying elms, ash trees, and burned areas in spring.

One of the world's most celebrated culinary mushrooms. Forms mycorrhizal relationships with oak, beech, and pine — impossible to cultivate. Wild harvest only.

The 'King of Mushrooms' in European cuisine. Mycorrhizal with spruce, pine, and oak. Cannot be cultivated. Highly sought after and expensive at market.

Bright orange and yellow shelf fungus that grows on hardwood trees. Can be cultivated on buried logs. One of the best wild mushroom meat substitutes.

Can grow to the size of a basketball or larger. Only edible when pure white inside — yellow or brown interior means it's past prime. Produces trillions of spores.

Prized by chefs for its intense smoky flavor. Mycorrhizal — cannot be cultivated. Very difficult to spot due to dark color against forest floor.

Popular in Italian cuisine. Long, elegant stems with caramel-brown caps. Requires cold shock to initiate fruiting.

Wild form of enoki. Grows in winter on dead hardwood, often through snow. Very different appearance from commercial enoki — orange-brown caps with velvety dark stems.

Beautiful purple-lilac mushroom. One of the few species that can be cultivated on compost. Cold-weather fruiter.

Fascinating autodigesting mushroom that liquefies itself into black ink within hours of maturity. Must be harvested and eaten when still white and firm.

Prized both culinarily and medicinally. Grows at the base of oak trees. Outdoor buried log cultivation is the most reliable method.

Stunning bright yellow clusters. Tropical species that prefers warm conditions. Very fast colonizer. Flavor is milder and slightly sweeter than pearl oyster.

Often confused with oyster mushrooms but grows differently — individual caps rather than clusters. Excellent culinary mushroom with firm texture.

One of the world's most expensive mushrooms, prized in Japanese cuisine. Mycorrhizal with pine — impossible to cultivate. Can fetch $1,000+ per pound in Japan.

One of the longest-lived organisms on Earth — individual specimens can live for 75+ years. Used medicinally for over 2,000 years. Critically endangered due to old-growth forest loss.

Warm-weather oyster variety. Very similar to pearl oyster but prefers warmer temperatures. Excellent for summer grows.

Spectacular cauliflower-like fruiting body that can weigh up to 30 lbs. Found at the base of conifers. Limited cultivation success reported.

Fast-fruiting warm-weather shiitake strain. Significantly faster than traditional strains. Excellent for indoor supplemented sawdust blocks.

Fascinating tiny mushroom that exudes a dark red latex when cut. Not edible. Grows in dense clusters on decaying hardwood. A beautiful species for mycological study.