There are over 15,000 types of mushrooms within the UK alone, but with so many edible types and so many others that can kill you, how do you know whats safe and whats not?

 

Our guide will help you to identify the most common edible and poisonous mushrooms within the United Kingdom but please note this is only a guide and we are not responsible for any use of this information.

 

The single most important thing to remember when foraging for mushrooms is to not eat or even touch anything that you are not 100% sure is safe, as even touching a particularly dangerous mushroom before putting your fingers to your face or other food can have dire consequences.

 

Boletus Edulis – Penny Buns

 

Nicknames: Penny bun, Cep, Porcini and king Bolete

 

Season: August to October

 

Habitat: mixed Woodland

 

Top: Rounded and smooth, they should never be flat or indented.

 

Colour: Light to dark brown, as the name suggests they should be the colour of a small bread bun.

 

Pores: This Mushroom has spore tubes instead of gills. The underside should be covered in these spore tubes and shouldn’t contain any holes or gaps.

 

Stem: Normally between 10 and 20cm when they are at their ideal picking size and can grow up to 10cm wide. The stem is often quite bulged and should be anywhere between white and a light brown colour.

 

 

Laetiporus sulphureus- Chicken of the Woods

Nicknames: chicken of the woods

Season: May to August

Habitat: mixed Woodland

 

 

This mushroom is one of the most easily identifiable mushrooms out there, and with a taste similar to chicken, hence its nickname its also one of the best ones to pick. Click the link for a more in-depth look at chicken of the woods – the Laetiporus.

 

 

Agaricus bisporus- Common mushroom

 

Nicknames: button mushroom, cultivated mushroom, table mushroom, crimini mushroom and champignon mushroom.

 

Season: April to Autumn

 

Habitat: open grassy areas

 

This mushroom is named as such because its, well, common. You can find it normally in fields or round the edges of woodland, but this one likes to grow out of grass in moister fields, requiring more water than most mushrooms to grow. For a more in-depth look at this mushroom check out our common mushroom page.

 

 

Sarcoscypha cocinea – Scarlet elf cups

 

Nicknames: Red cups, Moss cups, fairies baths, Scarlet elf cap

 

Season: November to Februrary

 

Habitat: On dying branchs within woodland

 

 

Normally any mushroom that’s red is normally trying to tell you that its poisonous but this is one of the few exceptions. They grow in woodland on the branchs of dying logs that are in the wetter areas of the wood. They have also been known to grow out of the banks of rivers and steams.

 

Make sure to look for the distinctive scarlet cup shape on the top, but fortunetly theres no other mushroom that looks like this one and so is one of the safer options to gather.