Lobster

Latin Name

Hypomyces lactifluorum

Usually Found In the USA, Canada, Europe

Season

September to October

In a story more suited to science fiction than the pages of a food and cookery book, the way a lobster mushroom grows is akin to an alien invasion out on the forest floor. Technically a parasitic ascomycete fungus, the invading lobster fungus preys on autumn mushrooms, the Russula brevipes and lactaire, and envelopes them in a pimpled red-orange film, coating the gills. This stops the original mushroom from dispelling their spores for future growth and changes its form completely into the concave-cap lobster mushroom.