Stats

Lifespan: A few weeks
Size: Small
Diet: Decomposer
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: North America and Europe
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Spores
Defense: Camouflage
Status: Common

About

The deceiver is a small gilled mushroom notorious for its wildly variable cap color and shape, which shifts with moisture and age and makes it one of the hardest common fungi to identify with confidence. It fruits widely in woodlands across the Northern Hemisphere, often forming loose troops in leaf litter.

Life cycle

1.
spore
A microscopic spore drifts on air or water and germinates where moisture and substrate meet.
2.
mycelium
A thread-like mycelium spreads through the substrate, breaking it down into nutrients.
3.
fruiting body
A mature fruiting body emerges to release the next generation of spores.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Fungi
Phylum: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Hydnangiaceae
Genus: Laccaria
Species: Laccaria laccata