Top 20 Most Common Mushrooms in San Marcos

The Harzige Lackporling is a console-shaped mushroom that can be 15-35 cm long, 10-20 wide and 4-8 cm thick. The top is colored red or purple-brown. The hat is covered by a pale yellow resin crust, which melts in the match or lighter flame. The beaded rim is fresh yellow to yellow orange, creamy in a dry state. The underside of the mushroom covered with round pores (3 per mm) is young white and later cream colored. The tubes are about 8-10 mm long. The relatively thin trama is light brown and tough cork-like. Juicing occurs when young fruiting bodies are cut, which solidifies into a resinous mass within a short time. The fruiting bodies are annual.

Tropical white polypore(Favolus tenuiculus) can be most often found on pieces of decaying wood, particularly in areas replete with moisture. Until recently it was a member of the genus Polyporus, which has since been subdivided. Named for its evocative appearance, the species is a favorite food of local insect species.

Immature fruiting bodies of L. periphragmoides start as round or oval "eggs" that may be up to 5 cm (2.0 in) in diameter. On the underside of the egg are whitish rhizomorphs that anchor it to the substrate. The peridium is white to buff-colored on the external surface, and has a gelatinous layer inside. An egg cut in half lengthwise reveals internal layers, including a tough white outer peridium, and a thick layer of firm, translucent, gelatinous matter transversed by strands (trabeculae) of denser white tissue. The strands are anastomosing partitions, connecting with the peridium externally and with the bars of the receptaculum within. The gelatinous layer is therefore divided up into many irregular longitudinal chambers. The egg eventually ruptures as the stalk expands and breaks through, creating a volva at the base of the stipe. In maturity, the fruit bodies, are up to 15 cm (5.9 in) tall, with a latticed spherical cap (the receptaculum) atop a long yellow or reddish stipe. In general, Old World specimens tend to be yellow, while New World specimens are reddish, although exceptions have been noted in the literature. The receptaculum is typically 1.5–3.5 cm (0.6–1.4 in) in diameter and forms a red or orange lattice, or mesh. There are typically between 20 and 100 small pentagonal to hexagonal meshes in the receptaculum; the arms of the mesh have sharp ridges on the outer surface, corrugations on the sides, and are flat to weakly ridged on the inner surface. The internal surfaces of the receptaculum are covered with an olive-green spore-bearing gleba, which sometimes seeps through the mesh holes. Like most stinkhorn species, the gleba has a foul odor, comparable to rotten meat, but it is "less-offensive" than most. The smell of fresh, newly exposed gleba has been reported to be sweet, similar to amyl acetate; the foul odor forming only after it has been exposed to air for some time. The stipe is 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) by 0.8–3 cm (0.3–1.2 in) thick, and is hollow and spongy. The walls of the stipe are made of an inner layer of large tubes and two or three outer layers of small tubes. Specimens may occasionally be found with fused heads on two separate stipes arising from a single volva. A variety with a white fruit body is known, Lysurus periphragmoides var. albidum (originally described as Simblum texense var. albidum by Long). It was reported growing from sandy alkaline soil in semi-arid regions of New Mexico, but has not been reported again since Long's collections in 1941. Spores are elliptical or oblong in shape, smooth, inamyloid, and have dimensions of 3.5–4.5 by 1.5–2.5 µm. The use of scanning electron microscopy has revealed that L. periphragmoides (in addition to several other Phallales species) has a hilar scar—a small indentation in the surface of the spore where it was previously connected to the basidium via the sterigma. Like many of the stinkhorns, L. periphragmoides is generally considered only edible when in its immature "egg" form.

The slime of the column stinkhorn emits an extremely foul odour, but many insects, particularly flies, find this slime very attractive. Attracting flies is the fungus' method for spreading its spores. This warm climate fungus has been introduced to North America, probably together with exotic plants.

Bush beard lichen is a shrub-like lichen. It is called Bush beard lichen after its white and dangling heads that have the appearance of beards. It is incredibly small at only 4 cm tall and can be found on deadwood bark.

This gorgeous species is unlike any other. The indigo milk cap, a member of the often-drab russula family, is deep blue in color. Like other milk caps, it bleeds a latex-like substance when cut or damaged, but instead of the usual white this species bleeds deep blue.

Ravenel's stinkhorn (Phallus ravenelii), as its quite evocative common name may suggest, is easily identified by the pungent odor that emanates from this diminutive mushroom. The elongated, spongy cap towers over a plain white stem. The cap itself secretes not only a strong scent but also a slime that attracts various insects. The repulsive smell makes it inedible and extremely undesirable.

Morel mushroom hunters may be most familiar with spring polypore since it is one of the earliest mushrooms to appear in the spring, as hinted by its name. Lentinus mushrooms typically have gills, but when investigated, this mushroom reveals surprising honeycomb-shaped pores.

A common woodland fungus found across North America, the false turkey-tail thrives in wet environs and can be found in copious quantities on decaying wood. The species is so-called because it looks similar the also-common Turkey Tail (Tremetes versicolor) - both species grow in thin, roughly semi-circular sheets. False turkey-tails have tough, woody bodies and are considered to be inedible.

Fluted bird's nest is easy to identify with its vase-shaped, shaggy, and grooved cup that is filled with egg-like structures that make the whole fungus look like a bird's nest. This cup acts as a splash cup, meaning when it is hit by a drop of rainwater, the "eggs" are ejected up to three feet away and stick onto wherever they land.