Photo by Matt D'Agrosa on iNaturalist · CC BY 4.0
Lobster mushroom
Hypomyces lactifluorum
- When
- Typically August – October — August, September, October. Earlier in the south, later in the north.
- Where it grows
- Conifer and mixed forest, often half-buried in duff.
- How to know it
- Not a mushroom but a parasitic mould that turns its host bright orange-red and pimply, with a hard, seafood-smelling white flesh.
- Look-alikes
- The host is almost always an edible Russula or Lactarius. Take only firm, bright specimens — soft, blackening ones are old.
- Harvest and use
- Firm and genuinely lobster-like. Scrub well, cook thoroughly.
Found in these regions
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Also ready in September
FruitAugust – SeptemberBeach plum
Prunus maritima
Low sprawling shrub in the sand, with dusty purple plums about the size of a marble.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Tom Norton · CC BY 4.0
NutSeptember – OctoberBlack walnut
Juglans nigra
Tennis-ball green husks lying under a tall tree with long compound leaves; the husk stains everything it touches brown.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Sandy Wolkenberg · CC BY 4.0
FruitAugust – SeptemberChokecherry
Prunus virginiana
Long drooping clusters of dark red-to-black cherries on a small tree with finely toothed oval leaves.
How to know it & its look-alikes →Photo: Tom Norton · CC BY 4.0
Educational information only. Never eat a wild plant or mushroom identified from a single photograph or description — confirm with a regional field guide or an experienced forager, and know the poisonous species in your area first.