Mushroom of the Month: Common Split Gill

For Christmas I received the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. In addition to that, I went out walking on Christmas Eve and found a mushroom. Taking those two things into consideration, I had no other option than to use the key from the Christmas gift I received to identify the mushroom I found over my Christmas holiday for the first Mushroom of the Month in 2013.

I found this fuzzy little thing in South East Kansas on  December 24, 2012.

White to Cream or Yellow Spore Key

1. Gills and or flesh exuding white, colored or clear

fluid (latex) when cut; gills attached; veils absent; on

the ground--Lactarius pp. 680-697

1. Gills, etc., not exuding latex when cut--2

2. Gills brittle, typically flaking when flicked with

finger; cap often some shade of red or purple; gills

attached; veils absent; on the ground--Russula pp. 697707

2. Gills not as above--3

3. A ring of tissue present on stalk or cuplike tissue

about stalk base or both--see Key A.

3. Not as above--4

4. Stalk off-center to lateral or absent; on wood or

wood debris--see Key B

Key B

(Stalk Off-Center to Lateral or Absent)

1. Mushrooms tough to leathery or woody--2

1. Mushrooms fleshy to firm-- 10

2. Mushrooms tough--3

2. Mushrooms leathery to woody -- 7

7. Mushroom fanlike; "gills" irregular, fleshy--8

7. Mushroom shelflike; "gills" regular, leathery--9

8. Cap white-hairy; "gills" split lengthwise--

Schizophyllum commune

And there we have it, the mushroom of the month is Schizophyllum commune,also known as the Common Split Gill. Which is thought to be the most widespread mushroom in the world, growing on every continent except Antarctica.