Monday Mushrooms. #4

PLEASE NOTE: This post is intended for sharing fun and interesting facts on mushrooms. It is NOT INTENDED to be used as a guide for identifying edible mushrooms!

Hi everyone and Happy Monday! It is a beautiful day, partly sunny and a temperature of 30F (-1C), much better than yesterday’s temp of -31F (-35C). And it should stay milder all week with temps between 35F and 41F (2 to 5C). Anyway, let’s dig into our mushroom of the week. Today we are looking at one called the Hedgehog. This one can have cream to apricot colored caps and white stems, but there is also a white variety, like the one in my photos.

Hedgehog, side view.

These mushrooms usually grow singly, or in loose groups, growing from the ground around living trees. The underside of the cap has spines, or teeth, instead of having the more usual gills or pores of most mushrooms. I wasn’t able to get a photo of that since I didn’t want to dig up the mushroom so I could turn it over. And it was too short to get a picture underneath, even lying flat on the ground.

Top view.

The caps can grow from 2 to 7 inches in width (5 to 17.5cm). The cap is rolled under when the mushroom is young and flattens out as it matures. The stem is quite thick and white and can grow up to 4 inches (10cm) long. The mushroom in my photo has a cap that is just over 3 inches (8cm) wide and the stem is less than 3 inches (7cm) tall.

Hedgehogs are considered to be a favorite edible with a slight fruit like aroma and a light peppery taste. As usual, use caution when consuming wild mushrooms, go with someone who knows their mushrooms well to make sure you are getting the right one. These grow from late summer through fall. That’s all for our mushroom today, I hope you all have a great week and God bless!

Steve. ©2026 Steve McLeod.