This page lists only South Dakota (and Midwest) mushrooms that are cup shaped. If you want to identify other types of mushrooms such as spherical mushrooms, mushrooms with stem & pores, shelf mushrooms, etc. please start on the main mycology page:
Auricularia auricula
Habitat: forests, saprophytic
Spore Print: white
Season: early spring through late fall
Notes: Commonly known as “wood ear”. This mushroom is one of my FAVORITE mushrooms to forage. It’s weird. It’s translucent. It looks like an ear (sometimes). One hiking trail is absolutely covered in A. Auricula during wet weeks. Aside from that, I have only found it in two other locations near Sioux Falls.
This mushroom is used for texture as the taste is pretty, hmmm, non existent. I add it to Asian and Indian stirfries after boiling it for a few minutes. I have even found this mushroom while there was still snow on the ground! Check out my YouTube video of it here: https://youtu.be/PBWp2JMsYVY
Crucibulum Laeve
Habitat: forests, dead wood
Spore Print: ?
Season: found mid August
Notes: what a kick-ass little mushroom! There are a few different species of the “bird’s nest fungus” but, so far, this is the only group of them that I have encountered near Sioux Falls, SD. Photos taken August 2022 while lost in a small forest.
Sarcoscypha Coccinea
Habitat: forest, saprobe, grows on dead wood
Spore Print: ?
Season: found March
Notes: Common name is “scarlet cup”. Edible! The photos above were taken in western MN 2021 on a 20*F day. The ground was still frozen solid just under the leaf litter.
South Dakota Fungi 