Toxic lookalike
Jack-o'-Lantern
Omphalotus illudens
The jack-o'-lantern is orange but has sharp, true gills, grows in clusters on wood or buried roots, and has orange flesh. It causes severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Lobster Mushroom
Hypomyces lactifluorum
Edible
Also called lobster fungus.
The lobster mushroom is a Russula or Lactifluus mushroom coated and reshaped by an orange-red parasitic mold. The result looks like a cooked lobster shell. It grows in forests across North America in summer and fall.
The tell
A misshapen mushroom covered in a bright orange-red crust, with the gills reduced to blunt ridges and firm white flesh inside.
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
- Irregular, often funnel- or vase-shaped and twisted, 2 to 8 inches across. Covered in a bright orange to orange-red crust that is finely pimpled, aging purplish red.
- Underside
- The host's gills are reduced to blunt, rounded ridges covered by the same orange crust.
- Stem
- Short and thick, covered in the orange crust like the rest of the mushroom.
- Flesh
- White, firm and dense when fresh. Smell mild, sometimes described as seafood-like.
- Spore print
- White, from the parasite, though rarely taken.
- Size
- Whole mushroom 2 to 8 inches (5 to 20 cm) across and 2 to 5 inches (5 to 12 cm) tall.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- On the ground in conifer and hardwood forests wherever its host mushrooms grow.
- Grows on
- The fruiting bodies of other mushrooms, mainly Russula brevipes and Lactifluus piperatus, on soil.
- Season
- Summer through fall.
- Range
- Throughout North America where its hosts grow.
Lookalikes
What the lobster mushroom gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
EdibleCinnabar Chanterelle
Cantharellus cinnabarinus
The cinnabar chanterelle is much smaller and thinner, with a smooth reddish-pink cap and forked false gills, and no pimpled crust.
EdibleChicken of the Woods
Laetiporus sulphureus
Chicken of the woods grows as orange shelves on wood, with a yellow pore surface underneath.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible
Field guides list the lobster mushroom as edible when its interior is firm and white. Older specimens that have turned soft or purplish are decaying. Because the parasite hides the host, guides note the host cannot be confirmed by sight, though no North American poisonings have been tied to that.
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 lobster mushroom
What is a lobster mushroom?
It is a Russula or Lactifluus mushroom that has been taken over by a parasitic fungus, Hypomyces lactifluorum. The parasite covers the host in an orange-red crust, flattens its gills into ridges, and makes its flesh denser.
Is the lobster mushroom poisonous?
Field guides list it as edible when the inside is firm and white. Specimens that are soft, purplish or moldy are decaying.
Where do lobster mushrooms grow?
On the ground in conifer and hardwood forests across North America, wherever their hosts, mainly Russula brevipes and Lactifluus piperatus, grow. They appear in summer and fall.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Hypomyces lactifluorum
MushroomExpert.com
- Lobster Mushroom
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Hypomyces lactifluorum
Beaty Biodiversity Museum, University of British Columbia
- Hypomyces lactifluorum
Index Fungorum
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