Top 20 Most Common Mushrooms in Clearfield

Jelly cup fungus grows on decaying conifer wood that has lost its bark. It is considered a snowbank fungus and appears soon after the mountain snows melt away. The specific epithet, alpina, reflects this mountain habitat. Jelly cup is a nuisance species for construction work - it can cause even treated lumber (especially red cedar) to deteriorate.

If you've ever gone on a walk through the woods where dead conifers are present, there's a good chance you've seen a veiled polypore. The fungus' name comes from the fact that it's pores are "veiled" by a rounded piece of tissue. Indeed, rather than growing in sheet-like formations like other polypores, the veiled polypore can be nearly spherical. These mushrooms are especially prevalent in pine stands that have been ravaged by fire or beetles.

A delicate little fairy-tale-looking mushroom, the milky conecap shows up in moist woodlands, fields, and lawns. The species' common name refers to its deep and pointed cap, which looks much like a garden gnome's hat. While the species is not known to be toxic, it is too small and delicate to bother with for culinary purposes.

The western giant puffball is the largest puffball in North America, reaching up to 70 cm in diameter. It is as large as its European counterpart the Giant puffball (Calvatia gigantea), although it features a more irregular shape than its European cousin.

The mower's mushroom, also referred to as the lawnmower's mushroom, is so named because it frequently crops up in lawns. The species is rather nondescript, and it is considered a member of the infamously hard-to-distinguish "Little Brown Mushroom" (LBM) family. While the mower's mushroom is not known to be toxic to humans or dogs, several of these close look-alikes are.

The fruit bodies are 4–15 cm (1.6–5.9 in) high with a conical cap that is 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) tall and 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) wide at the widest point. The cap surface has pits and ridges, formed by the intersection of 12–20 primary vertical ridges and infrequent shorter, secondary vertical ridges and transecting horizontal ridges. The cap is attached in a skirt-like manner to the stipe, roughly halfway from the top, with a sinus 1–2.5 cm (0.4–1.0 in) deep. The ridges are smooth and colored yellowish brown to honey brown when young, but darken in age to brown, dark brown or black. When young the ridges are up to 1 mm wide and flat with sharp edges but usually become rounded, sharp or eroded in age. The pits are smooth and vertically elongated. Initially whitish to pale brown when immature, they become brownish to yellowish or grayish brown at maturity. The fragile stipe measures 2.5–11 cm (1.0–4.3 in) tall by 1–5 cm (0.4–2.0 in) thick and is roughly the same width throughout its length, or tapered towards the top. It is often hidden by the cap when young but becomes longer as it matures, often developing shallow longitudinal furrows. In warm, wet conditions the stipe sometimes becomes inflated, especially near the base. White to whitish or watery brownish in color, its texture is occasionally nearly smooth but more commonly covered with mealy whitish granules that sometimes darken to brown. Orson K. Miller likened the stipe texture to that of a cow tongue. The fragile, whitish to watery tan flesh is 1–2 mm thick in the hollow cap, and sometimes forms chambers or layers near the base. The whitish to brownish sterile inner surface of the cap is covered in mealy granules. In deposit, the spores are bright yellowish orange. Ascospores are smooth, elliptical, and typically measure 20–25 by 12–16 µm. Asci (spore-bearing cells) are eight-spored, cylindrical, hyaline (translucent), and measure 225–325 by 15–22.5 µm. Paraphyses are septate, and cylindrical with tips that are rounded to club-shaped, and measure 150–275 by 7–15 µm. Hyphal cells on sterile ridges are septate, measuring 100–175 by 10–25 µm. They are tightly packed in an even layer. The terminal hyphae are club-shaped to somewhat rectangular with a flattened to broadly rounded tip. Although Morchella populiphila is an edible species, it is not as highly valued as other morels because of its fragile nature and its inferior flavor.

The thallus of this lichen is described as foliose, having the aspect of leaves, although the central portions of the thallus may appear nearly crustose. It is small, typically less than 5 cm (2 in) wide, with lobes less than 2 mm (0.08 in) broad, appressed to loosely appressed. The upper surface is some shade of orange while the lower surface is white, corticate, with short, sparse hapters (an attachment structure produced by some lichens). The vegetative propagules called soredia and isidia are absent, although apothecia are common. It has been described as possessing swollen, orange-yellow thalli (in streams), compact orange thalli (on boulders) or dark orange-red thalli on the driest rock faces. The variety X. elegans var. granulifera, characterized by having isidia-like vegetative propagules, has been reported from Greenland and Spitsbergen.

The spring fieldcap (Agrocybe praecox) appears in spring and early summer, in scattered groups or in tufts across the edges of woodland paths. They may be a common sight in urban areas with wood chip mulch or compost piles. The species' scientific name comes from the same Latin root as the word "precocious," giving another clue regarding the early appearance one can expect from these little mushrooms.

The distinctive orange sponge polypore is most notable for causing brown cubical rot of conifer wood. With no mushroom caps, the fruitbodies of this fungus appear as a collection of curtains hanging on the underside of the log. It was given the name "Orange spore polyphore" due to its bright orange, finely grooved, spongy fruitbodies with orange pores.

The cap is initially convex before flattening and finally becoming funnel-shaped. Its color depends on its state of hydration: when dry, it is buff; when wet, it is cinnamon-buff to clay color. The gills have an adnate to decurrent attachment to the stipe and are closely spaced, sometimes with "veins" connected between them. Gills are roughly the same color as the cap, or paler. The stipe measures 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in) long by 0.5–2 cm (0.2–0.8 in) wide, and is either equal in width throughout, or tapers on either end. Initially stuffed with a cottony mycelium when young, it hollows in maturity. Colored similar to the cap, the stipe surface ranges from smooth to canescent (covered with a whitish-grey bloom) when wet, to fibrillose-striate when dry. The stipe base features a dense mass of whitish rhizomorphs embedded with needles and other forest debris. The flesh is mostly thin except for the disc (a circular region in the center of the cap). It has a slight to "disagreeable" odor and a "disagreeable and bitter" taste. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown. The spore print is white. spores are smooth and elliptical, with dimensions of 4.5–6 by 2.5–3.5 µm. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are typically two- or four-spored (rarely, one-spored) and measure 20–30 by 3.5–5 µm. The hymenium lacks cystidia. Clamp connections are present in the hyphae.