Here is a list of top thirty seven commonly cultivated species of mushroom.
1. Agaricus Arvensis:
Cap is 6-15 cm in diameter; smooth, white or yellowish, convex or conical, bell shaped. Stipe 6-12 x 1-2 cm, spores 6.5-8 x 4-5 μm, brown, occurrence from summer to autumn. It is found in lawns, meadows, cultivated fields, and in pastures etc. either solitary or scattered.
2. Agaricus Bisporus:
Cap convex when young and flattened when old. Whitish to light brown. There is only one mushroom that is sold as the white Button Mushroom. Growing on manure heaps, in the soil, in gardens, and green houses. Formation of fruit bodies begins as mycelial strands, just below the surface of the casing layer, develop “nodules” which are composed of tightly interwoven mycelium that will eventually develop into button mushrooms. Fruit bodies of the Button Mushroom are harvested before their caps expand.
3. Agaricus Campestris:
Cap 5-12 cm in diameter is globular when young, convex to flattened at maturity. Surface dries, downy, even quite scaly. Varying in colour from creamy white to light brown. Stipe 3-8 x 1-2 cm, Spores 6.5-8 x 4-5 μm, brown, occurrence from summer to autumn.
This is the widest known of all mushrooms. It is found in fields, pastures and in manure ground.
4. Agrocybe Praecox:
Cap 3-6 cm convex when young and expanded when old. It is whitish umbo or yellowish at first, later changes to yellowish brown. Margin slightly turned inside at the young stage but later turns upward. Sometimes surface is uneven with many shallow pits. Spores elliptic, 10-12 x 5-7 μm.
It is found in open woods, lawns, leaf litter, pastures or on the ground either single or in groups or selected on the ground.
5. Amanita Caesarea:
Cap is 8-12 cm smooth, hemispherical, bell shaped, convex and at maturity it is flat and the margin slightly curved downwards, red or orange, fading to yellow on the margin. Usually the large and well-developed specimen, have a deeper and richer colour, the colour being always more marked in the centre of the pileus. The annulus yellow or orange hanging down upon the stem like a collar. The spores elliptic 10-14 x 6-11 μm, non-amyloid.
White-coloured volva at button stage which surrounds the stipe, when the mushroom matures, the volva ruptures and orange coloured pileus comes out. This is the orange amanita. It is large and attractive.
6. Amanita Vaginata:
The Cap is 3-10 cm in diameter, ovate at first, bell shaped, convex and expanded, thin, quite fragile, smooth when young, with a few fragments of volva adhering to its surface. Volva is long, thin, fragile, forming a permanent sheath, which is quite soft and readily adheres to the base of the stem. Stipe 7-15 x 0.8- 1.5 cm, spores 9-12 μm in diameter and colourless.
It is quite variable in colour, ranging from white to mouse colour, brownish or yellowish. It is edible but should be used with great caution. It is found where there is much vegetable mould, sometimes found in stubble and pastures, especially in meadows under trees in open places beneath wood.
7. Armillaria Mellea:
Cap is 5-15 cm in diameter, fleshy, honey coloured or ochraceous, striate on the margin, shaded with darker brown towards the centre. Sometimes a central depression is found in full grown specimens, tufted with dark brown fugitive hair. Colour of the cap varies, depending upon climatic conditions and the character of the habitat. The veil varies greatly. It may be membranous and thin, or quite thick or may be wanting entirely. The stipe 5-20 x 1-2.5 cm, spores 6-8 x 3.5-4 μm colourless.
It is found either in dense clusters, gregarious or solitary. This grows either in cleared lands or in thin woods, on the ground, at the base of the old tree stumps or on dead trees.
8. Auricularia Auricula and Auricularia Polytricha, Ear Fungus:
These two saprophytic species are two of the most popular edible species. The latter in the tropics and the former in temperate regions of the world. Auricularia polytricha was one of the edible fungi in ancient China.
The earliest record of this species was recorded in about 200-300 BC. The species is now known and has now been cultivated throughout the South Pacific and Asia. It derives its common name from the ear-shaped fruiting bodies that it produces. The fruiting bodies are usually brownish to reddish brown and have a consistency of jelly.
Auricularia auricula and A. polytricha commonly are produced on a synthetic medium consisting of sawdust, cottonseed hulls, bran, and other cereal grains or on natural logs of broad- leaf trees.
9. Bovista Plumbea:
Cap whitish, glabrous, when young, splitting irregularly into white granules and finally falling off. Peridium lead coloured, papery, having small narrow mouth, gleba at first white, then red, finally dark brown to purple, powdery.
The mushroom is quite small, grows in old pastures, on the ground, being quite plentiful after warm rains. Sporophores grow in old pastures or in humiculous soil without anchoring rhizoids and at maturity freeing from the substrate.
10. Calvatia Utriformis:
A rather large species about 6-10 cm large across, ovoid or top shaped, depressed above, with a stout thick base and cord like root. Peridium or outer skin is whitish, soon cracking into rough hexagonal markings; with age turns dirty grayish brown and gradually flakes away to leave only the base. Whitish at first, yellow or brown when old, surface covered with warty patches, spines or cracks. Spores olive-brown and smooth, spherical, 4- 5 μm.
Sporophores growing solitary or scattered on the ground, in meadows, pastures or grassy lands.
11. Cantharellus Cibarius:
The Cap is 1-8 cm in diameter, fleshy, at first convex, later flat, depressed in the centre, finally funnel shaped, bright to deep yellow, firm smooth but often irregular. Their caps are ruffled and shaped somewhat like cups with colors that vary from yellow, pale orange and brownish gray to pale ivory. Its margin often wavy, flesh white, the cap has the appearance of an inverted cone. They have a unique peppery taste when eaten raw but lose this quality when cooked. Their texture is slightly rubbery. Stipe 2-4 x 0.5-2 cm, spores 7-9 x 4-5 μm colourless.
It grows in woods of deciduous trees and in rather open places. It is of a rich egg yellow colour.
12. Coprinus Atramentarius:
The Cap is 2-6 cm, at first egg shaped, grey or greyish brown, first smooth except that there is a slight scaly appearance, margin ribbed, often notched, soft when it melts away in inky fluid. Spores black, ovate 7-10 x 5-6 μm.
This grows very abundantly in dense clusters on damp rich ground, gardens, rich lawns, and dumping grounds.
13. Coprinus Comatus:
The Cap is 5-15 cm cylindrical, fleshy, moist, at first egg shaped, becoming bell shaped, seldom expanded, splitting at the margin along the line of the gills, scattered yellowish scales, tinged with purplish black, sometimes entirely white surface shaggy. At maturity pileus becomes an inky fluid. Spores blackish purple, elliptic, 13-14 x 7-9 μm.
Scattered or in clusters sporophores growing singly, on grassy land, in lawns, gardens, fields, on roadside and on refuse dumps.
14. Coprinus Micaceus:
Cap is 3-6 cm ovate when young, turning yellow, tan or light buff, ovate, bell shaped, glistening mica-like scales covering undisturbed young specimen.
Usually growing in dense clumps or more or less scattered on ground sporophores, sometimes at the base of the living trees or around stumps, rarely on logs in woods; medium to long, thin white and smooth. Spores lemon-shaped, 7-12 x 6-7 μm.
15. Flammulina Velutipes:
The species is whitish-yellow, with a cap/ Pileus 2-6 cm in diameter, flattened, orange to tawny, surface glabrous and margin unrolled. The stalk/stipe is 3-8 x 3-6 cm covered with dense reddish brown hair giving a velvety appearance, without annuals and volva. Spores 7-9 x 4.5-6 μm colourless.
It is cultivated on sawdust medium in large, urn-shaped containers. Sporophores growing in clumps on dead wood or on old stumps and in decaying wood either erect or prostrate. Several fruit bodies emerge from the common rooting structure.
The origin of cultivation of this species is believed to be in Japan, but its history is even more obscure than other species. However, it has been cultivated for at least several centuries.
16. Heterobasidion Annosum:
Cap is sessile often larger, greyish brown when young but dark brown when old, occasionally blackish, tough and corky when fresh, hard after drying.
Growing solitary or imbricate on stumps and logs the sporophores, among coniferous trees or among hard wood.
17. Hirneola Auricula-Judae:
The Jews Ear’s like to grow on common elder and on false acacia. The fruiting body 3-10 cm in diameter. It is gelatinous, thin, concave, wavy, flexible, when moist, hard when dry, blackish, fuzzy, hairy beneath. It looks like ears. Almost all round the year round. Spores 15-20 x 3-6 μm colourless.
18. Hydnum Sepandum:
The usual colour of the cap is buff, sometimes very pale, almost white. The colour and smoothness of the cap have given the name of “doe skin mushroom.” It is variable in size and colour, growing solitary or in clusters. The cap is fleshy, brittle, convex or nearly plane, colour varying from a pale butt to a distinct brick red, flesh creamy white, inclining to turn brown when bruised taste, slightly aromatic, margin often wavy.
19. Laccaria Laccata:
Cap is 2-3 cm in diameter, convex when young, expanded or flattened at maturity, sometimes funnel shaped, salmon, or purple coloured when fresh, pale yellow when moist, light coloured when dry, surface smooth or with minute scales, thin watery appearance. Stipe 5-10 x 0.3-0.8 cm and spores7-10 μm in diameter, colourless.
Sporophores usually growing singly, sometimes scattered in clumps in ground or on rotten wood, in fields, forests and other waste places.
20. Laetiporus Sulphureus:
Cap 10-40 cm across. In mature stage the growth of horizontal, and spreading fan like from stem. Upper surface is salmon, orange or orange red. Flesh cheesy, light yellow, the edge being smooth and unevenly thickened with nodule-like prominence. Spores white, pip-shaped, 5-7 x 4-5 μm. Edible and good best when young.
It grown on living trees, on stumps and on decayed places, and on decayed logs.
21. Lentinus Edodes (Shitake or Forest Mushroom):
The species is medium size, with a cap diameter of approximately 2-4″ and a stalk that is 4-5″ long and approximately 0.75-1″ thick. The cap is brown a “scaly,” i.e., with upright warts, while the stipe is yellowish-white with a prominent, persistent annulus. The Shiitake has the distinctive advantage of a much longer shelf-like because they are more commonly sold dried while most other mushrooms are sold fresh.
Lentinus edodes, the Shiitake Mushroom is as common in Asian countries as Agaricus bisporus is in the West. Unlike the latter species, L. edodes is most often sold dried, but because of cultivation, now, it is also available in fresh form. The methods of cultivation of Shiitake duplicates that of P. ostreatus.
The laying of fruiting bodies near freshly cut oak logs in order to cultivate Shiitake was reliably recorded, from China, approximately 800 years ago and Master Wu San Kwung in Oingyuan is credited for the origin of cultivation of this mushroom. As in P. ostreatus, it was not until the late 19th Century that wooden dowels, with mycelium, were used to inoculate cut logs. Presently, sterilized sawdust in polypropylene bags are used in the cultivation of Shiitake, as is described for P. ostreatus.
22. Leucocoprinus Cepaestipes:
Cap ovate when young, later expanded or broadly conical with an umbo, usually white but umbo often appear brownish, thin, surface dry.
Usually growing in partial fairy rings in soil freshly manured ground or sometimes in decomposed vegetable matter or in saw dust, on logs, rotten wood sporophores. Fruiting body with powdery veil and collapsing at maturity.
23. Lycoperdon Perlatum:
Fruit-body 3-10 cm high, 2-5 cm wide. There are long, thick, erect spine or warts of irregular shape, with the smaller Ones in between, whitish or gray in colour, sometimes with a tinge of red brown colour. First the larger spines fall away. Spores 3.5-5 μm, pale yellow.
Sporophores are solitary, or scattered on the ground, in open places or in forests, sometimes on rotten wood, usually smaller.
24. Lycoperdon Pyriforme:
It grows in dense cluster. Puffballs are pear shaped. The surface is covered with minute brownish scales or granules are persistent. The body is first white, then greenish, yellow and olivaceous. Puffballs are sessile or small stem is present, at the base there are mycelium threads.
25. Macrolepiota Procera:
Cap is 4-10 inches in diameter, thin, strongly umbonate with brown spot-like scales. The stem is very long, cylindrical, hollow or stuffed, even very long in proportion to its thickness. The ring is thick and firm; at maturity it becomes loosened and movable on stem. Found in soil, pasture, lawns, woods and gardens.
26. Morchella Conica:
Cap conical, with honeycomb like pits and ridges aligned vertically. Height 4-8 cm. Buff or yellow when young darker when old. Sporophores scattered on the ground in forest. Spores yellowish, elliptic 20-24 x 12-14 μm.
27. Morachella Deliciosa:
Cap oval or oval-conical sometimes cuspidate top. From 1 ½ -3 inches in height; from 1-2 inches in diameter. Stipe is short and is hollow from top to the bottom and from 1-2 inches in height; from ¼ – 1¼ inches in diameter. Found in wood borders, also in old apple and peach orchards, Pits usually narrow, elongated.
28. Morchella Esculenta:
Cap rounded, yellow to brown to reddish; pits and ridges irregular. Often large, 5-15 cm high; head round, sponge like stem white, but can also become more yellowed, as they grow older, hollow, often irregular. Spores elliptic, 17-23 x 11-14 μm. Sometimes it is nearly round but again it is often slightly narrowed in its upper half, but not pointed or cone like. Pits are irregularly arranged. Morels appear in the spring and are gathered in the wild in wooded areas. Scandinavians refer to morels as “truffles of the north.”
Sporophores usually solitary on the ground, under trees in open woods, grassy land, road sides, clay soil, old apple and peach orchards.
29. Pleurotus Flabellatus:
Sporophores grow on dead tree trunk or on ground. Base of sporophores sponge like, fruit body short, fan shaped, first pink and then white.
30. Pleurotus Ostreatus:
It is large, with a gray to gray-brown cap that grows to around 5-15cm in its longest dimension or sometimes yellowish after drying, surface smooth, and margin incurved. The stalk of the mushroom is generally white, short and eccentric, i.e. not centrally attached. The gills are also white. Overall, the mushroom is fragile, relative to the button mushroom. The normal fruiting period is during the autumn and winter months when the temperature is approximately 15-20°C.
This usually grows in clusters on dead tree trunks or branches, rarely on living trees.
31. Pleurotus Sajor Caju:
Sporophores usually grow solitary or in groups on dead, decaying plants. It is oyster-shaped, often lobed and folded at maturity giving a coralloid appearance, white to gray or dull brown in colour, surface smooth, margin irregular and incurved.
32. Podabrella Microcarpa:
Cap small with central acute umbo, flattened, pink at the margin and olive brown at the umbo, surface smooth. Solitary sporophores growing, occurring in large numbers on termite nests or on soil, usually small.
33. Psathyrella Hydrophilum:
Cap 3-8 cm convex soon almost flat; usually appears white or brown, pale when old, surface smooth or sometimes covered with numerous, white, delicate scales, fleshy and thin, sometimes cracking irregularly or splitting into lobes when old. Spores 5-7 x 3-4 μm.
Sporophores usually scattered or clustered on old tree stumps or logs and sometimes on earth, very fragile, fruiting body not becoming a black fluid.
34. Rigidoporus Ulmarius:
Sporophores growing solitary imbricate on dead wood of coniferous trees and sometimes on hard wood, soft and fleshy, hard and woody when dry. Body is whitish or buff when fresh. Orchidaceous on drying.
35. Russula Emetic:
Cap is 5-10 cm bright scarlet, convex when young, then expanded, depressed when old, pink to red when young and pale red with age, surface smooth and shining, slightly sticky when young, margin marked with streaks, cuticle easily peeled off. Spores white in deposit ovate, 9-11 x 7-9 μm. Taste unpleasant.
Sporophores growing solitary or scattered on the ground in forests, in open places or on rotten wood, fruiting body brittle when broken, lacking milk-like fluid.
36. Russula Lepida:
Cap 4-10 cm convex at first, later becoming flattened, bright red, becoming pale with age, sometimes whitish near the centre, texture silky, surface not shining, cracking when mature. Spores white sub-globose 8-9 x 78 μm.
Sporophores growing in mixed forests or in coniferous woods, usually smaller, fruiting body brittle when broken, lacking milk-like fluid.
37. Volvariella Volvacea (Chinese or Straw Mushroom):
The mushroom is large, the cap, if allowed to mature, often exceeds 5″ in diameter, and is light to dark gray. When young, the mushroom is entirely enclosed in a white, egg-like structure called the volva. As the mushroom develops, the stalk will elongate and push the cap upward, thereby rupturing the volva, leaving only a cup-like structure at the base of the stalk.
As the common name implies, the Paddy Straw mushroom was usually grown on paddy straw, but other plant material are also presently used. These other substrates include rice straw, dried banana leaves and oil palm bunch waste. However, the yield utilizing the latter substrate is substantially lower than that of paddy straw.