Also the chanterelle, as Xema mentions. Mmmmm, good stuff.
My parents go mushroom-hunting all the time on the Oregon coast. Chanterelles in abundance, as well as matsutake and several other varieties which I eat happily but whose names I don’t know.
There are fungi that superficially resemble chantarelles; easily distinguished if you know the key identification points, but cases of mistaken identity can and do occur, even with this distinctive mushroom.
The point is that the cases of mistaken identity are always avoidable; not by becoming an expert mycologist, just by being properly able to identify the species you’re seeking.
I agree. We used to go mushroom picking every year when I was a kid, and it’s not too hard to gather a basket of champignons without getting any death caps or destroying angels in there - just be very conservative about what you identify as pickeable. Ditto for Boletus and so on.
Huh. I didn’t know that. Thanks, Mangetout. Do you have more information? (It’s hard for me to imagine someone mistaking another mushroom for a chanterelle, but I certainly defer to your expertise.)
And now I’ve Wikied the Jack O’Lantern mushroom, which is apparently a poisonous chanterelle lookalike. Either we don’t have any of those on the Oregon coast, or my parents never bothered to warn me about them because they hate my breathing guts.
The False Chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) is the one I had in mind; its appearance is quite variable, but can superficially resemble true Chanterelles. The spore print is a different colour, the gills do not extend down the stem and it does not have the apricot smell of true Chanterelles.
This is what I always look for.
In fact the gills on Chanterelles are not really like gills at all; they’re more like deep wrinkles (this is another diagnostic feature).
Everything about chanterelles rocks; I’m an unabashed fan. Nothing like seeing a small, firm bit of yellow peeking out from underneath a tangle of wet leaves and humus.
Even those precautions might not save you.
The Coprinus atramentarius, also known as the Alcohol Ink-cap, is safe only if you don’t drink alcohol. cite
Sounds like a plot twist from a detective novel.
All this talk of fungi and no-one’s mentioned puffballs … yummy!
Finding a pristine one of these is like Christmas coming early. 
Can’t see them being mistaken for something else …
Mangetout … you like these? If you’re interested I know somewhere on the south coast where they grow big and wild. 
what about a dark purple and red mushroom with little orange blots on it? Grows out of trees?
Anyone wanna come make a meal out of this puppy? This is 36 hours later.
Go big fella, go …
Well, I wouldn’t want to eat the mushroom itself, but anything that can turn generic diet cola into Dr Pepper is OK by me.
I’ve tried them a couple of times, but was disappointed with other people’s suggestions of how to serve them; they’re so absorbent that frying them in oil turns them into flaccid greasy sponges.
Obviously I need to experiment a bit more; I’m thinking about cubing and stewing them -Greek-style- with tomatoes, garlic and herbs, so if you know of a good place to collect them, I’m all ears; email address is in my profile.
[hijack]
I just have to share this story, which I read way back in sixth grade as part of a reading comprehension test and which has stuck with me to this day:
A high-society lady was planning her dinner party when she came across some wild mushrooms in her back yard. She was intrigued by the possibility of serving them but worried about their being poisonous when she noticed that their dog was eating them, and evidently had been for the past day or so. Convinced that they were safe, she gathered them up and asked the cook to include them in the evening’s menu.
The dinner was delicious, and she told her guests about her source for the mushrooms and her cleverness in determining that they were safely edible.
Moments after she finishes her story, the maid rushes in, terribly upset. “Madam,” she cries, “The dog is dead!”
Bedlam ensues. People scream, panic, and rush to the emergency room for an orgy of stomach-pumps and mushroom poison antidotes.
When our socialite returns home, her social life and reputation in shambles and her throat sore from the stomach pump, the maid tells her, “Madam, the truck driver left his name and number and wishes to apologize personally.”
“What truck driver?” the woman wearily asks.
“Why, madam, the truck driver that ran over the dog.”
[/hijack]
I can’t imagine why anyone would risk their life for a mushroom. A mushroom!
Let’s see… Good result: You enjoy a tasty, better-than-anything-in-the-supermarket plate of mushrooms. Yum! Bad result: You poison yourself and die a rapid but painful death, leaving your loved ones behind to mourn and go on without you.
Since it is remarkably easy to end up in the “bad result” column, why on earth take that risk? Is the plate of mushrooms really that good?
As I have said several times in this thread, the risk is vanishingly small if you take a small amount of sensible care.
It’s not mistakes that kill here, it’s simple ignorance. If you learn to positively identify half a dozen of the common, worthwhile edible species (which is actually rather easy to do), and simply pass over anything about which you are uncertain, then the risk of being poisoned is nonexistent.
If you pick mushrooms without bothering to learn to positively identify them, then the risks are considerable and serious, but that’s just the same as crossing the road; if you learn to look both ways and take other sensible precautions, the risk is minimal; if you don’t bother to do that, you’re likely to become roadkill.
And yes, the plate of mushrooms really IS that good; I bet my life on it on a regular basis (but the bet is a certainty, so no big deal).
Many years ago a mexican restaurant in the Detroit area killed I think 16 people. They added local mushrooms to their sauce. Many more were sick. They thought they knew what they were doing.