Chicken of the woods vs jack-o'-lantern
- Toxic: Jack-o'-Lantern
Look under the orange: chicken of the woods has yellow pores and no stems. A jack-o'-lantern has sharp orange gills on separate stems.
Chicken of the woods vs lobster mushroom: how to tell them apart
Quick answer
Chicken of the woods forms overlapping orange shelves on trunks, stumps and logs, with a sulfur-yellow pore surface underneath; a lobster mushroom is a single misshapen mushroom on the ground, covered in a finely pimpled orange-red crust, with blunt ridges underneath and firm white flesh inside. The lobster mushroom is a parasite that has taken over another mushroom.
Side by side
The tell for each
Edible
The tellOverlapping orange shelves on wood with a bright sulfur-yellow pore surface underneath.
Edible
The tellA misshapen mushroom covered in a bright orange-red crust, with the gills reduced to blunt ridges and firm white flesh inside.
How they differ
| Feature | Chicken of the Woods | Lobster Mushroom |
|---|---|---|
| Where it grows | Chicken of the WoodsOn wood: trunks, stumps and logs. | Lobster MushroomOn the ground, on host mushrooms (Russula and Lactifluus). |
| Form | Chicken of the WoodsOverlapping flat shelves with no stem. | Lobster MushroomA single funnel- or vase-shaped mushroom with a short, thick stem. |
| Underside | Chicken of the WoodsSulfur-yellow surface of tiny pores. | Lobster MushroomBlunt, rounded ridges under the same orange crust. |
| Surface | Chicken of the WoodsOrange to salmon on top, often with a yellow edge. | Lobster MushroomA finely pimpled orange to orange-red crust, aging purplish red. |
| Flesh | Chicken of the WoodsSoft and pale yellow to whitish when young, chalky with age. | Lobster MushroomFirm, dense and white. |
| Season | Chicken of the WoodsLate spring to fall. | Lobster MushroomSummer through fall. |
FAQ
Common questions
What is a lobster mushroom?
It is a parasitic fungus, Hypomyces lactifluorum, growing over another mushroom, usually Russula brevipes or Lactifluus piperatus. The parasite turns the host orange-red and reduces its gills to blunt ridges.
Does chicken of the woods grow on the ground?
It grows on wood, sometimes on buried roots at the base of a tree, so it can look as if it is on the ground. Its shelves and yellow pores separate it from the lobster mushroom.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Laetiporus sulphureus
MushroomExpert.com
- Hypomyces lactifluorum
MushroomExpert.com
- Hypomyces lactifluorum, lobster mushroom (Mushrooms Up!)
Beaty Biodiversity Museum, University of British Columbia
Keep checking
Read both pages in full
- More on the chicken of the woods
- More on the lobster mushroom
- Not sure it is either? Narrow it down with the identification key
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
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