Random Mushroom Generator

One press draws a real mushroom with its scientific name, what it looks like and where it grows.

Field mushroomAgaricus campestris. A white cap. Found in grassy areas around the world, and called meadow mushroom in North America.

Next step Draw a plant to grow beside it Draw a biome to set it in

How it works

This random mushroom generator draws one of 68 real fungi, from the Fly agaric to the Octopus stinkhorn, with its scientific name, what it looks like and where it grows. Made for drawing, stories and nature quizzes.

Read the full guide

Pick a shape

After your first press, the list beside the button reads Any shape. Choose Cap and gill mushrooms (32), Boletes, brackets and tooth fungi (16) or Puffballs, cups, jellies and other shapes (20).

Draw it from the card

Each card says enough to sketch from: the Sky-blue mushroom is small and all blue, the Red cage is a hollow ball of latticed branches, and the Bleeding tooth fungus oozes bright red droplets. Draw three in a row for a forest floor.

Tips

For a quiz, press Hide facts, then name the shape of each new mushroom before you press Show facts.

Questions and answers

Does it say which mushrooms are safe to eat?

No, on purpose. This is not a guide to what is safe to eat, and no card says whether a mushroom can be eaten. Never eat a wild mushroom because of a name or a description.

Which mushrooms glow in the dark?

Four on this list give off light: the Jack-o'-lantern mushroom, the Bitter oyster from eastern North America, Mycena chlorophos with its pale green glow, and the mycelium of the Honey fungus.

What is the largest mushroom?

A single Armillaria ostoyae in Oregon's Malheur National Forest spreads underground and is possibly the largest living organism on Earth by mass, area and volume.

Are the facts checked?

Yes. Every line was checked against the opening of the fungus's Wikipedia article on 30 September 2026.

All 68 mushrooms

Cap and gill mushrooms 32

Amethyst deceiver Laccaria amethystina. Small and bright amethyst. The color fades with age until it is hard to identify, hence deceiver.
Armillaria ostoyae A honey mushroom that spreads underground. One in Oregon may be the largest living organism on Earth.
Bitter oyster Panellus stipticus. Fan-shaped, orange-yellow to brownish caps on decaying wood. Strains from eastern North America glow.
Blusher Amanita rubescens. Named for flesh that bruises pink. This species is found in Eurasia.
Button mushroom Agaricus bisporus. Native to grasslands in Eurasia and North America. Its other names include cremini and portobello.
Caesar's mushroom Amanita caesarea. An orange cap with yellow gills and stem. Found in North Africa, Eurasia and North America.
Common brittlestem Candolleomyces candolleanus. Tan when young, fading to white. Found in lawns in North America.
Death cap Amanita phalloides. A greenish cap with a white stem and gills. It began in Europe and grows with broadleaved trees.
Enoki Flammulina filiformis. A gilled mushroom widely grown in East Asia. DNA showed it is not the European Flammulina velutipes.
Fairy ring mushroom Marasmius oreades. Native to North America and Europe. Also called the fairy ring champignon or Scotch bonnet.

Show all 68 mushrooms (58 more)

Cap and gill mushrooms, continued

Field blewit Collybia personata. Grows in grassy areas across Europe. Also called blue-leg.
Field mushroom Agaricus campestris. A white cap. Found in grassy areas around the world, and called meadow mushroom in North America.
Fly agaric Amanita muscaria. A bright red cap covered with white warts. Native to temperate and boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere.
Garden giant Stropharia rugosoannulata. A gilled mushroom found in North America. Also called king stropharia.
Honey fungus Armillaria mellea. Mushrooms appear around the base of trees it has infected. Its mycelium can give off light.
Indigo milk cap Lactarius indigo. Dark blue when fresh, and it oozes indigo milk that slowly turns green. The Americas and Eurasia.
Jack-o'-lantern mushroom Omphalotus olearius. Orange, gilled and able to glow in the dark. On decaying stumps and roots in European woodland.
Matsutake Tricholoma matsutake. Grows in Eurasia and North America, living in partnership with tree roots.
Mycena chlorophos Pale, sticky caps that give off a pale green light. On fallen twigs and logs in subtropical Asia.
Oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus. Found in temperate and subtropical forests around the world. Also called hiratake.
Parasol mushroom Macrolepiota procera. Shaped like a parasol. Grows alone, in groups or in fairy rings in pastures across temperate Eurasia.
Saffron milk cap Lactarius deliciosus. Native to Europe, and carried to other regions along with the pine trees it lives with.
Shaggy ink cap Coprinus comatus. White cylinders open into scaly bell-shaped caps. The gills turn black and dissolve within hours.
Shaggy scalycap Pholiota squarrosa. Cap and stem covered in small pointed scales. Yellowish gills turn rust-brown. North America and Europe.
Shiitake Lentinula edodes. Native to East Asia and mainland Southeast Asia. Records of growing it go back to 1209.
Sky-blue mushroom Entoloma hochstetteri. Small and all blue. Native to New Zealand, where it is on the fifty-dollar note.
Split gill Schizophyllum commune. Looks like waves of tightly packed coral or a loose fan. Found on rotting wood throughout the world.
Straw mushroom Volvariella volvacea. Grown throughout East and Southeast Asia. Also called the paddy straw mushroom.
Sulphur tuft Hypholoma fasciculare. A small gilled mushroom in large clumps on stumps, dead roots and rotting trunks of broadleaved trees.
Witch's hat Hygrocybe conica. Every part blackens with age, so Britain calls it the blackening waxcap. Eurasia and North America.
Wood blewit Collybia nuda. Native to Europe and North America, in both coniferous and deciduous woodland. Also called blue foot.
Wrinkled peach Rhodotus palmatus. A pinkish, rubbery cap with a ridged and veined surface. On stumps and logs of rotting hardwoods.

Boletes, brackets and tooth fungi 16

Beefsteak fungus Fistulina hepatica. A bracket fungus that looks like a slab of meat. Europe, Africa, Australia and North America.
Birch bolete Leccinum scabrum. Grows only in partnership with birch trees. Widespread in Europe and in the Himalayas.
Birch polypore Fomitopsis betulina. A bracket that grows almost only on birch trees and can last more than a year.
Bleeding tooth fungus Hydnellum peckii. Young caps ooze bright red droplets. It grows on the ground with conifers in North America and Europe.
Chaga Inonotus obliquus. Grows on birch and other trees as an irregular black mass that looks like burnt charcoal.
Hen-of-the-woods Grifola frondosa. A polypore at the base of trees, often old oaks or maples. Native to China, Europe and North America.
Lion's mane Hericium erinaceus. A single clump of dangling spines. Common in late summer and autumn on hardwoods such as beech and maple.
Penny bun Boletus edulis. A large brown cap with tubes and pores in place of gills. Forests across the Northern Hemisphere.
Red cracking bolete Xerocomellus chrysenteron. A small mushroom with tubes and pores in place of gills under the cap.
Reishi Ganoderma lucidum. A red bracket, also called varnished conk, on decaying hardwood trees in Europe and parts of China.
Slippery jack Suillus luteus. A bolete with a slimy cap, yellow tubes and a ring on the stem. Native across Eurasia, in conifer forests.
Sulphur shelf Laetiporus sulphureus. Golden-yellow shelves on tree trunks and branches, with pores in place of gills. Europe and North America.
Tinder fungus Fomes fomentarius. Hoof-shaped brackets on hardwood trunks. Ötzi, the 5,000-year-old ice man, carried four pieces.
Turkey tail Trametes versicolor. A common polypore found throughout the world, shaped like a wild turkey's tail feathers.
Willow bracket Phellinus igniarius. A woody, hoof-shaped bracket that can last for many years, often on willow.
Wood hedgehog Hydnum repandum. Spines hang under the cap where gills would be. The cap is yellow to light orange to brown. Europe.

Puffballs, cups, jellies and other shapes 20

Black bulgar Bulgaria inquinans. Black jelly drops on dead oak, hornbeam and ash in Europe and North America.
Black truffle Tuber melanosporum. A truffle native to Southern Europe. Also called the Périgord truffle.
Caterpillar fungus Cordyceps militaris. A fungus that lives on insects. First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.
Collared earthstar Geastrum triplex. Starts as a ball, then its outer layer splits into four to eight points. In the leaf litter of hardwood forests.
Common morel Morchella esculenta. A yellowish sponge of pits and ridges on a white stem. Under hardwoods and conifers in spring.
Common puffball Lycoperdon perlatum. Off-white and round, its top covered in short spiny bumps that rub off. Fields, gardens and grassy clearings.
Dead man's fingers Xylaria polymorpha. Upright clubs that poke up through the ground like fingers. Found around the world.
Dog stinkhorn Mutinus caninus. Small and thin with a dark tip. In small groups on wood debris or leaf litter in summer and autumn.
Elfin saddle Helvella crispa. An irregular whitish cap on a fluted stem. Near deciduous trees in summer and autumn.
Fluted bird's nest Cyathus striatus. Like a tiny bird's nest of eggs, which are spore cases that falling water knocks out. On dead wood in open forests.
Giant puffball Calvatia gigantea. A puffball of meadows, fields and deciduous forests in late summer and autumn, in temperate areas worldwide.
Horn of plenty Craterellus cornucopioides. A funnel-shaped grayish mushroom of Eurasia, North America and Australia. Also called black trumpet.
King Alfred's cake Daldinia concentrica. A hard, shiny black ball on dead wood that looks like a lump of coal, with rings inside like a tree.
Octopus stinkhorn Clathrus archeri. Starts as a white egg, then opens into four to six pinkish-red arms. First described from Tasmania in 1859.
Orange peel fungus Aleuria aurantia. Bright orange cups that look like orange peel scattered on the ground. Widespread.
Red cage Clathrus ruber. A hollow ball of latticed branches, pink to orange to red, that grows out of a whitish egg.
Scarlet elf cup Sarcoscypha coccinea. Cups with a brilliant red inside, on decaying sticks in damp spots on forest floors in winter and early spring.
Snow fungus Tremella fuciformis. White, frond-like and gelatinous. On dead branches of broadleaf trees, most of all in the tropics.
White truffle Tuber magnatum. A truffle found mainly in Italy, and also in other parts of Southern Europe and in Thailand.
Yellow brain Tremella mesenterica. Gelatinous and orange-yellow with a lobed surface, on dead and fallen branches. Also called witches' butter.

How this list was compiled: 68 mushrooms and other fungi, every one with its own article on the English Wikipedia. Each line was checked by script on 2026-09-30 against the opening section of the article (x.src), fetched that day: the script asserts that a phrase carrying each fact is in the text. The line gives the scientific name (x.latin), what the fungus looks like and where it grows, in the article's own terms. Left out on purpose, of every line: whether a mushroom can be eaten, any effect it has on a person, and any use as food or medicine. A script also refuses those words in the list. Species whose opening gave no look or place to check, or whose common name is itself a claim about eating, are not on the list. The three groups (cap and gills; boletes, brackets and tooth fungi; other shapes) and the wording are our own. This list is not a guide to what is safe to eat. Licence: own work