Mushrooms in season in May

A solid white spring mushroom of grassland, traditionally appearing around St Georges Day.

The classic mushroom of unimproved pasture: white cap, pink gills darkening to brown, and a clean mushroomy smell.

A large relative of the field mushroom, smelling of aniseed and bruising slowly yellow in a harmless way.

A shaggy white column that dissolves itself into black ink within a day of opening.

Shell-shaped tiers on dead broadleaf wood, often after the first cold snap.

Rubbery brown ears growing on elder all year round. The same species sold dried in Chinese cookery.

A small pale funnel-shaped grassland mushroom; an important poisonous lookalike of edible spring species.

A spring lookalike for the morel with a lobed brain-like cap. Its toxin is related to rocket fuel.

Dense sulphur-yellow clusters on stumps all year. Very common, very bitter, and toxic.

The great prize of spring: a honeycombed hollow cone, best hunted on disturbed chalky ground.

A small grassland mushroom that can form rings or arcs. Many unrelated mushrooms also form fairy rings.

Vivid sulphur-yellow and orange brackets on standing trees, with a texture famously like chicken breast.

Edible in itself, but it causes a violent reaction with alcohol taken up to three days later.