Deadly
Deadly Galerina
Galerina marginata
Galerina shares a rusty brown spore print and grows on wood, but it is far smaller, with a thin stem and a smooth brown cap rarely over 1.5 inches across. It contains amatoxins.
Big Laughing Gym
Gymnopilus junonius
Toxic lookalike
Also called spectacular rustgill, gymnopilus spectabilis.
The big laughing gym is a large, golden-orange mushroom that grows in clusters on stumps, logs and tree bases. Its bright color and size lead people to mistake it for honey mushrooms or chanterelles. Field guides list it as poisonous, and its flesh is very bitter.
The tell
A large, orange-yellow cluster on wood with a ring on a thick stem and a rusty orange spore print.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Convex, flattening with age, 2 to 7 inches across. Orange-yellow to rusty orange, dry, and covered in fine silky fibers or small scales.
- Underside
- Gills attached and crowded. Yellow at first, becoming rusty brown as the spores mature.
- Stem
- Thick and often swollen in the middle or at the base, colored like the cap or paler. A membranous ring near the top turns rusty from falling spores, and sometimes wears away.
- Flesh
- Pale yellow and firm. Taste documented as intensely bitter.
- Spore print
- Rusty orange to bright rusty brown.
- Size
- Cap 2 to 7 inches (5 to 18 cm); stem 3 to 8 inches (8 to 20 cm) tall and up to 1.5 inches (4 cm) thick.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- In clusters on stumps, logs and the bases of living or dead trees, and from buried wood and roots, in forests and yards.
- Grows on
- Wood of hardwoods and conifers, including buried roots.
- Season
- Summer through fall, and into winter on the West Coast.
- Range
- Throughout North America.
Lookalikes
What the big laughing gym gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Toxic lookalikeJack-o'-Lantern
Omphalotus illudens
The jack-o'-lantern is bright orange with gills that run down the stem, has no ring, and leaves a whitish to pale cream spore print rather than rusty orange.
Edible when well cookedHoney Mushroom
Armillaria mellea
Honey mushrooms are smaller and duller honey-brown, with white gills and a white spore print.
EdibleGolden Chanterelle
Cantharellus cibarius
Chanterelles grow singly from soil, not in clusters on wood, and have blunt, forked ridges under the cap instead of true gills. They have no ring.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Toxic lookalike
Field guides list the big laughing gym as poisonous or inedible, and its flesh is intensely bitter. Its common name refers to reports of hallucinogenic effects. Psilocybin has been reported in some collections but not others, and guides disagree on how consistent its effects are.
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.
FAQ
Questions about the big laughing gym
Is big laughing gym poisonous?
Field guides list it as poisonous or inedible. Its flesh is very bitter, and reports of its effects vary between collections and regions.
Why is it called the big laughing gym?
The name refers to reports of people laughing or hallucinating after eating it. Gym is short for the genus name, Gymnopilus.
How do you tell big laughing gym from honey mushroom?
By spore print and color. The big laughing gym is a brighter golden orange, larger and thicker-stemmed, and leaves a rusty orange spore print. Honey mushrooms are honey-brown with white gills and a white spore print.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Gymnopilus junonius
MushroomExpert.com
- Big Laughing Gym (Big Laughing Jim)
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Gymnopilus junonius
Index Fungorum
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