(c) Joel Chamberlain, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

jack-o'-lantern mushrooms

(c) Chantel C, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Golden Chanterelle

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Jack-o'-lantern Mushroom is a bright orange mushroom that grows in dense clusters on wood, buried roots, or stumps, with true knife-like gills running down the stem. It is poisonous and can cause severe gastrointestinal illness, and unlike chanterelles it is a decomposer feeding on dead wood. Golden Chanterelle is a prized edible mushroom with a golden-yellow funnel-shaped cap and blunt, wrinkled ridges rather than true gills. It grows from soil in forests — often near conifers or hardwoods - as a mycorrhizal partner with living trees, and typically smells fruity or apricot-like.