Lobster Mushroom

Your Internet Guide to St. Germain (Vilas County), WI
and the Surrounding Area

Email: Our St Germain

St. Germain's oldest and most comprehensive website - since 1997!

Our St. Germain
Wild Foods
Alcohol Inky
Angel's Wings
Asparagus, Wild
Bear's Head
Blackberries
Black Caps
Blueberries
Boletes, Aspen
Boletes, Birch
Boletes Edulis
Brown Button
Chantrelle, Black
Chantrelle, Scaly
Chantrelle, Yellow
Chix O' Woods
Choke Cherries
Crown-tipped Coral
Deer Mushroom
Destructive Pholiota
Elderberries
Fairy Ring
Fiddleheads
Gypsy Mushroom
Hazelnuts
Hedgehog
Horse Mushroom
Lactarius Delicious
Lactarius Indigo
Leeks
Lepiota Americana
Lobster
Man On Horseback
Meadow Mushroom
Morel, Black
Morel, False
Morel, White
Oyster
Pheasant Back
Puffball, Gem
Puffball, Giant
Raspberries
Shaggy Mane
Shaggy Parasol
Slippery Jack
Witches Butter
Wood Blewitt
Wood Ear

Lobster Mushroom
Hypomyces Lactifluorum

The lobster mushroom may be found growing by itself or in a group in the woods during summer and into autumn. It is not an individual species, but a Russula or Lactarius mushroom that is serving as a host to a parasitic fungus. This fungus covers the surface of the mushroom, producing the characteristic orange color. The parasitic fungus is edible, so much so that lobster mushrooms are sold commercially in stores.

The problem is not the edibility of the fungus, it is its host that may be questionable. In time, the fungus will disfigure the host mushroom to the point where it is pretty much unidentifiable and correctly identifying edible members of the Russula and Lactarius family is tricky enough.

Warning: Although some Russula and Lactarius mushrooms are poisonous, they are not death-dealing. However, they can make you quite sick, so caution is advised when you come across a lobster.

Top

The website designed and built with
Microsoft Expression Web®

Browsing problems?
Contact: Our St Germain