A to Z of British Fungi

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Common Name	Scientific Name	Description
Palamino Cup	Peziza repanda
Pale Brittlestem	Psathyrella candolleana
Pale Milkcap	Lactarius pallidus	A buff coloured fungus, often with a rosy tinge that exudes milk from the gills and is found in broadleaf wooodland with Beech.
Pale Oyster	Pleurotus pulmonarius
Pale Stagshorn	Calocera pallidospathulata	Yellow fungus with gelatinous fruit bodies that grow, densely crowded on dead or rotting branches, stumps and twigs of broadleaf and coniferous wood.
Panaeolus rickenii	Panaeolus rickenii
Panther Cap	Amanita pantherina	While not poisonous, this fungi is psychoactive and contains the same chemicals as Muscaria and Gemmata, and it is the most potent of the three. However, it lack's the nasty lethal toxins found in...
Parasitic Bolete	Pseudoboletus parasiticus	An unmistakable species due to its habit of parasitizing common earthballs, scleroderma.
Parasol Mushroom	Macrolepiota procera	Macrolepiota procera, the Parasol Mushroom, is a choice edible species found on roadside verges, in neglected pastureland and on grassy seaside cliffsin late summer and autumn.
Parasola auricoma	Parasola auricoma	"Parasola auricoma (Pat.) Redhead, Vilgalys...
Parasola leiocephalus	Parasola leiocephalus	Does not deliquesce, spore size important to distingish from C. pilicatilis
Parrot Waxcap	Hygrocybe psittacina var. psittacina	A small, greenish-yellow fungus with a slimy cap that is found growing in soil on short or cropped grassland.
Paurocotylis pila	Paurocotylis pila
Paxillus rubicundulus	Paxillus rubicundulus
Paxina acetabulum	Paxina acetabulum
Pearly Webcap	Cortinarius alboviolaceus	Both the cap and stem are a pale silvery lavender to almost white in colour. The cap is rounded with a broad umbo and the stem is club-shaped and dark to deep violet at the top. It is found...
Pedicel Puffball	Lycoperdon caudatum
Peeling Oysterling	Crepidotus mollis	Crepidotus mollis - try gently pulling a fresh cap apart, sideways - there is a rubbery 'gelatinous' pellicle (which you will see very easily as it stretches apart), don't be fooled by the scaly '...
Peniophora rufomarginata	Peniophora rufomarginata	Found on dead branches of Tilia (lime), fully resupinate, initially attached tightly but starts to 'peel' and lift up from the margins
Peppery Bolete	Chalciporus piperatus	This small bolete is commonly found in coniferous woodland and also with Birch trees, sometimes growing near Amanita muscaria. The cap is pale yellow ochre to light brown in colour and...
Peppery Milk Cap	Lactarius piperatus	No other white Milkcap has the combination of extremely crowded gills and white latex, which dries to olive-green.
Persistent Waxcap	Hygrocybe persistens	An orange-yellow fungus with a greasy cap found growing in small troops on soil amongst shortish grass, often close to conifers.
Pestle Puffball	Lycoperdon excipuliformis	Resembling an oversized Common Fuffball but disintegrating when mature instead of releasing the spores through a hole in the top of the cap.
Petticoat Brittlestem	Psathyrella artemisiae
Petticoat Mottlegill	Panaeolus papilionaceus	A smallish white fungus with mottled gills that turn black, found in trooping groups in fields and pastures and on manure.
Peziza bovina	Peziza bovina
Peziza micropus	Peziza micropus
Peziza sepiatra	Peziza sepiatra
Peziza succosa	Peziza succosa	A medium sized discomycete fungus; when the flesh is damaged a yellow juice is produced (see inset).
Pezziza echinospora	Pezziza echinospora	Habitat: burnt beech stump Cap: cup shaped, brown colour inside, slimy...
Phaeogalera dissimulans	Phaeogalera dissimulans
Phanerochaete velutina	Phanerochaete velutina	Tends to be loosly attached to broadleaf wood, occasionally conifer. Waxy feel. Spores oblong-elliptical 6.2-8 x 2.5-3.7u
Phellinus conchatus	Phellinus conchatus
Phellinus pomaceus	Phellinus pomaceus
Pholiota lenta	Pholiota lenta	This uncommon fungus is found on humus debris in mixed woodland from Summer until Winter.
Pholiota lucifera	Pholiota lucifera
Pholiotina aporos	Pholiotina aporos
Phyllotopsis nidulans	Phyllotopsis nidulans
Physisporinus sanguinolentus	Physisporinus sanguinolentus	A polypore
Pimple Pinkgill	Entoloma hebes	A medium sized fungus found growing in grass or in mixed woodland.
Pinecone Cap	Strobilurus tenacellus	A small and delicate fungus found either solitary or in small groups attached to partly-buried or buried Pine cones.
Pink Domecap	Calocybe carnea	This small and edible fungus is found in small troops on grassland, meadows and roadside verges. The domed cap is smooth and pale pink to rose pink in colour. The stem is smooth,...
Pink Waxcap	Hygrocybe calyptriformis var. calyptriformis	A smallish pinkish-lilac fungus with a greasy, conical ca, usually found growing solitary on soil in short or mown grassland.
Pipe Club	Macrotyphula fistulosa	A tall, simple, yellowish to tawny-brown elongated spindle foung growing in broadleaf woodland either solitary or sparsely grrouped on the twigs of broadleaf trees, mainly Beech.
Pleated Ink Cap	Parasola plicatilis	Stem. White discolouring buff from the the base upwards. Flesh . smell none. Gills free, clay-pink then grey finally black, hardly deliquescing. Spores. elliptical to almond-shaped. Spore print...
Pleomassaria siparia	Pleomassaria siparia	This is the imperfect (anamorphic) state of the fungus.
Plicaria endocarpoides	Plicaria endocarpoides
Plums and Custard	Tricholomopsis rutilans	Commonly referred to as Plums and Custard or occasionally as the Strawberry Mushroom, Tricholomopsis rutilans is, despite its attractive appearance, a very bitter and inedible fungus. Despite its...
Pluteus dietrichii	Pluteus dietrichii	A small fungus found in deciduous woodland solitary or in small groups near rotting wood or other woody debris.
Pluteus hispidulus	Pluteus hispidulus
Pluteus petasatus	Pluteus petasatus	A rare species that is found on rotting wood from Summer until Autumn.
Pocket Plum	Taphrina pruni
Poculum firmum	Poculum firmum
Poison Pie	Hebeloma crustuliniforme	This poisonous fungus is pale cream to buff coloured with the cap having a central dome and the surface is sticky when wet. The gills are pale-brown and exude tiny drops of clear liquid in ...
Polypore mould	Hypomyces aurantius	A very small, pinhead sized orange-yellow fungus that grows in dense clusters on the upper surface and hymenium of old polypores.
Polyporus tuberaster	Polyporus tuberaster
Poplar Fieldcap	Agrocybe cylindracea	Typically in clusters with willow, this fungus is uncommon in the U.K. and is found mainly in the south.
Porcelain Fungus	Oudemansiella mucida	convex then flattening, pale greyish when young, becoming more white. slimy. Stem. white striate about the membranous ring, slightly scaly below. Flesh. white, thin. Gills. distant, pure white...
Postia ptychogaster	Postia ptychogaster
Postia Tephroleuca	Postia tephroleuca	looks just like a white crust at first but then brackets develop.
Potato Earthball	Scleroderma bovista
Powdery Brittlegill	Russula parazurea	A medium sized Russula that has a grey-blue cap and grows either solitary or in scattered troops under broadleaf trees.
Powdery Piggyback	Asterophora lycoperdoides	This is a small fungus that is found occasionally, though more commonly during wet periods, growing from the rotting remains of Russula nigricans....
Primrose Brittle	Russula sardonia	A medium to large Rusula, purplish red in the cap found growing in scattered groups or solitary in comiferous woodland, specifically with Pine.
Psathyrella marcescibilis	Psathyrella marcescibilis
Psathyrella scatophila	Psathyrella scatophila	The species is recognized by spore size and a copious veil. Psathyrella hirta differs in having larger spores (10–13 x 5.5–7 microns, av. 10.3–12.1 x 5.9–6.6 microns), and in addition it has slightly...
Psilocybe coprophila	Psilocybe coprophila
Puccinia bistortae	Puccinia bistortae	This is the early stage of one of two rust fungi which attack Conopodium majus (Pignut); the later stages attack the unrelated plant Persicaria bistorta (Common Bistort); another rust which does not...
Puccinia lagenophorae	Puccinia lagenophorae	A parasitic rust fungus which attacks (chiefly) Senecio vulgaris (Common Groundsel) and Senecio squalidus (Oxford Ragwort). Originally described from Australia, it arrived in England in 1961 and...
Puccinia smyrnii	Puccinia smyrnii	A rust parasitic on Smyrnium olusatrum (Alexanders)
Pulcherricium caeruleum	Pulcherricium caeruleum
Purple Brittlegill	Russula atropurpurea	A largish fungus that has a dark-purple coloured cap, cream gills and a white stem found growing on soil in broadleaf woodland, preferably with Oak or Beech, occasionally with coniferous trees.
Purple Jellydisc	Ascocoryne sarcoides	A small, pinkish purple, saucer shaped gelatinous fungus on a short stem found growing in broadleaf woodland on dead wood, favouring Beech.
Purple Stocking Webcap	Cortinarius stillatitius	Cortinarius subgenus Myxacium. In this genus, both the cap and stem are sticky from the universal veil, which is easily observed in very young, button specimens or in wet weather. The...
Purple Swamp Brittlegill	Russula nitida	Smallish agaric with variable cap colouring occuring frequently from summer; solitary or in scattered groups on soil in damp areas under birch. Edible
Purplepore Bracket	Trichaptum abietinum	A small encrusting bracket that is an annual, is greyish-white with a violet pore bearing under-surface and grows in tiers on the rotting wood of conifers, preferably Spruce.