Wild Fungi

Fungi are an incredibly important part of our ecosystems, possibly uniting them all. Fortunately for us, some of them are edible, if not delicious! The mushrooms that you pick are the fruiting bodies of complex underground organisms that contribute to most aspects of the health of the plants and animals around them. When I see a patch of your favourite mushrooms, I imagine that I’m standing in a thick mass of threads that connects them all and connects me and everything around us that I can see.

Many fungi are not edible, though and some are downright deadly. Nearly all mushrooms that you’ll find need cooking before consuming. The toxins in fungi can affect you in many ways and some are slower to work than others, so be very careful. I recommend making your first foray or two with an experienced mushroom hunter. The fungi that we list here are those that we’re 110% sure about identifying. There’s a couple more to add but I’m waiting on some better pics to help you identify them clearly.

We acknowledge the incredible spiritual and healing power of Psilocybin mushrooms when used correctly but because of the legal issues surrounding them, we won’t be listing them on this website. Sorry!

Please note that I am a self taught herbalist and forager, I have no formal qualifications in this field beyond experience, observation and private research. These pages are more to inspire you to take up your own research and exploration and not are not intended to be prescriptive.

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Fungal ID books –

The books that have guided me well so far are these three. There are plenty of others out there but make sure that you get an Australian one!

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Fungi foraging interest groups and websites

It’s a good idea to find as many local sources of information before foraging for fungi. There’s a lot online and I’m happy to be a member of these two, very active groups on Facebook –

• Mushroom Foragers of South Australia
• Mushroom Hunters and Foragers South Australia

Kate Grigg aka The Wild Food Huntress has a website that can be a great guide to foraging. She’s down South so some of the fungi listed on her site aren’t found here in the Northen areas.

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Note: It can be illegal to harvest from the wild without the appropriate permit or licence. Different councils, however, have different rules and regulations on the matter, so check with them before you go out. The Rangers at Mt. Crawford Forest DO NOT condone foraging or harvesting of wild fungi.