What’s in a Name?
Frightening and Fun Fungi
for Halloween
Photos and text by Barbara J. Saffir, Oct. 2026
Happy Halloween from some naturally ghoulish denizens of the nation’s capital. And we don’t mean politicians!
Meet some of the scary-sounding fungi in DC and its suburbs that are perfect for “Fright Night.” Some photos of these freaky fungi follow. For the rest, just click on the fungi’s names below to see photos and details about them on the iNaturalist app and their locations in Virginia.
Some slime mold (protista kingdom versus the fungi kingdom) and mushroom monikers aren’t spooky but they do sound Trick-Not-Treat gross, like Deer Vomit, Dog Vomit Slime Mold, Dog’s Nose Fungus, Dung-loving Bird’s Nest, Black Rot, White-rot Fungus, Stinky Squid, Stinking Orange Oyster, and Ravenel’s, Lantern, Devil’s Dipstick, and Wrinkly stinkhorns.
Others bear sobriquets that sound almost scrumptious, like a bag stuffed with Halloween candy: Sweet Tooth Polypore (aka Wood Hedgehog), Sweet Knot, Icing Sugar Fungus, Honey Mushroom, Candy Apple Waxy Cap, Cherry Shot Hole, Chip Cherries, Pear Rust, Orange Peel Fungus, Peach Leaf Curl, and the slime molds: Chocolate Tube, Red Raspberry, and three Carnival candy (a/k/a cotton candy) slime molds: Carnival Candy, White Carnival Candy, and Yellow Carnival Candy.
How can you be sure if any or all of these fantastic fungi are widow-makers? Check with an experienced, trusted expert from organizations such as the Mycological Association of Washington, D.C., the North American Mycological Association, and iNaturalist’s Fungi of DC Metro area. You can also consult the online version of “The Claudius Project: Poisonous Mushrooms in Virginia,” a joint project of Virginia Master Naturalists, UVA Health’s Blue Ridge Poison Center, and the University of Virginia School of Medicine’s Division of Medical Toxicology. A useful field guidebook is the National Audubon Society Mushrooms of North America. Finally, check these iNaturalist links if you want to find these and other fungi, lichens, as well as super-cool slime molds in the Arlington area.
It’s easy to stay safe on your Halloween mushroom jaunts if you practice “Leave no Trace” principles. That way the budding naturalists hiking behind you can also enjoy the amazing shapes and colors—and names—of our fiendishly fascinating fungi.
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