The dates in this article are guideposts for the temperate zone: the real start depends on the year, temperature and rainfall — a 2–3 week shift is normal. The periods come from the "season" fields of our catalog cards. No table replaces the skill of identifying a mushroom: the rule "not sure — don't take it" always applies.
Spring: April–May
| Mushroom | Status | What matters |
|---|---|---|
| Morel | conditionally edible | a 2–3-week window right after snowmelt; only after boiling |
Spring is the "quiet" season: fewer toxic lookalikes, but the morel in particular must never be eaten raw or undercooked (see the card).
Early summer: June
| Mushroom | Status |
|---|---|
| Birch bolete | edible |
| Aspen bolete | edible |
| Slippery jacks | edible |
| Chanterelle | edible |
| Parasol | edible |
| Puffball | conditionally edible, only young with white flesh |
| Oak bolete | conditionally edible, needs boiling |
| Porcini | edible |
Summer: July–August
Peak season. Also appearing are milkcap (conditionally edible, needs soaking and salting), belyanka, saffron milkcap, beefsteak fungus, Caesar's mushroom (further south), black trumpet chanterelle.
Warning: this is exactly when the death cap appears — confused with button mushrooms, russulas and parasols. To see the telltale sign — a stem inside a sac-like volva — the mushroom must be dug up, not cut.
Autumn: September–October
| Mushroom | Status | Dangerous lookalike |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn honey fungus | conditionally edible | funeral bell (Galerina marginata) |
| Volnushka | conditionally edible | — |
| Milkcap | conditionally edible | other milkcaps (also conditionally edible) |
| Maitake | edible | — |
| Oyster mushroom | edible | — |
Autumn is the main season of honey-fungus mistakes: Galerina contains the same amatoxins as the death cap and grows on the same stumps at the same time. A reliable test is the spore print: white in honey fungus, rusty-brown in Galerina.
Separately on honey fungi: in a 25-year series of poison-center calls in Wisconsin, USA (18 cases, half mycologist-confirmed), 83% had gastrointestinal symptoms with no organ complications or deaths — but poisonings happened even after cooking. The practical takeaway: honey fungi are always boiled long, with the water discarded, and on first acquaintance not eaten in quantity.
Late autumn and winter: November–March
Oyster mushroom keeps growing until December and, in mild winters, until spring. During thaws you can also find winter honey fungus (enoki) — the wild form differs from the white cultivated "needle" one.
Cultivated forms are available year-round: button mushroom, shiitake, tremella. Medicinal species such as reishi and chaga have no strict picking season, but their use is a separate safety topic (see the drug-interaction map).
Three rules worth memorizing
- After 6 hours — seek medical help. Vomiting and diarrhea starting 6–24 hours after wild mushrooms is the typical picture of amatoxin poisoning; a "false recovery" then follows (~36–48 hours) while the liver is being destroyed (PMC11640968). Call emergency services and keep leftover mushrooms.
- Cooking does not save you from amatoxins. They are heat-stable, so a death cap or Galerina cannot be "boiled safe."
- Do not pick what you cannot positively identify. For gilled mushrooms with a ring and white gills — dig out the entire stem.
This article is a calendar, not an identification key: use the traits in the species cards the tables link to.