There are over 38,000 kinds of mushrooms or toadstools. Generally, the name “mushroom” is used for the few kinds that are safe to eat and “toadstools” for those that are poisonous. But all are interesting as part of God’s handiwork in creation. There are many shapes and sizes. Some are as large as a soccer ball, while others are no larger than a common straight pin. Their colors range in shades of brown, black, orange, red, violet, pink and white. Some grow on tall stems; others grow close to the ground.
Their names include the huge puffball, weighing up to 20 pounds and each year producing millions of spores (seeds). Because of their distinctive colors, one is called red blusher, another inky cap and another scarlet cup. This last one grows so close to the ground that it looks like a bright-red soup bowl. The jack-o-lantern is a brilliant orange color. Turkey-tails grow on trees and stumps. Their undersides, colored like turkey feathers, contrast with a smooth white or tan top. Deadman’s finger looks like a dirty finger sticking out of the ground from a giant, buried hand. Two, the horn of plenty and the son of the woods, are found in great numbers. Then there is one with large, outstretched petals that looks like a vegetable starfish. Another, spreading its petals on the ground, has a smooth, round center that looks like a brown cookie.
One of the more common mushrooms in the midwestern United States is the tan colored morel, often found in woodlands under oak trees in late spring. This one is safe to eat and looks like a partly folded miniature umbrella, full of irregular-shaped spongy wrinkles.
These are just examples of a few. A good rule to follow is to leave all mushrooms alone, unless you are with a mushroom expert who can tell the difference between poisonous and nonpoisonous. An edible kind may have poisonous relatives that look similar. Eating only one of certain poisonous varieties is enough to cause death. Of course, those for sale in grocery stores are safe and make good eating.
In a way, mushrooms provide an example of the two forces that are in the world—good and evil—and perhaps the Creator would like us to think of them that way. The Bible tells us to “abhor [hate] that which is evil; cleave [cling] to that which is good” (Romans 12:99Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. (Romans 12:9)). A person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her Savior and uses the Word of God, the Bible, for guidance will be given wisdom to recognize evil and stay away from it. That person will find happiness in holding tightly to that which is good. But we need to continually ask God’s help to recognize good and evil, just as mushroom hunters need wisdom in the mushrooms they choose for eating.