Mushrooms Growing in Cow Manure

Panaeolus

• Mushrooms in the Panaeolus genus grow in cow manure, but they're even more common in horse manure. They prefer open grounds like manicured lawns and pastures. Panaeolus subbalteatus has a brown cap with a dark band around the margin, mottled brown gills and a thick, hollow stem. The cap's margin extends over the gills. Panaeolus mushrooms contain serotonin, a neurotransmitter. Some species contain psilocybin and psilocin, making them illegal to possess.

Puffball

• Mycenastrum corium is a large, white puffball with a thick, leathery outer skin and a soft, inner skin. The gleba, the fleshy, solid mass of spores, starts out white, but eventually turns dark brown. Puffballs have no stems. Mycenastrum corium grows in compost piles, on home lawns, or on horse or cow manure lying in pastures. This puffball is common in the western part of North America but is sometimes found in the east.

Bird's Nest Fungus

• Crucibulum laeve is a type of bird's nest fungus found growing on sticks, rotting wood, in the soil or on cow manure. This buff-brown mushroom is cup-shaped with thin walls and a smooth interior. White eggs, which are disc-shaped bodies containing the reproductive spores, are joined to the cup with thin cords. When a drop of water lands in the nest, the eggs are thrust out, along with the cords. The ends of a cord are sticky and attach themselves to whatever touch, pulling an egg along with it, and providing it with a new location to mature.

Button Mushroom

• Agaricus bisporus, or button mushrooms, are the most common mushroom grown in the United States. It includes button mushrooms, portabellos and criminis. These three mushrooms are the same species. Button mushrooms are short, whitish-colored mushrooms with light-brown scales. Portabellas and criminis are brown strains of Agaricus bisporus. However, portabellas expose the mature gills while the criminis aren't allowed to open. Button mushrooms grow in grass, under confer trees and in cow manure.

Manure

• Mushrooms can grow in a compost mixture of straw, manure and gypsum. According to Cornell Cooperative Extension, the type manure used is the most important ingredient of the compost. Although wild mushrooms often grow on cow manure, horse manure is better because cow manure is low in nitrogen, which mushrooms need to grow. Other good manures include chicken, rabbit, sheep and goat. Fresh manure is best because it's nitrogen rich.