This mushroom is medium sized, 1 ½ to 6 inches wide. It has a white to brownish cap. The young mushroom is dark in color but it becomes more whitish as the mushroom ages. The one shown here is apparently an older one. Different field guides illustrate mushrooms of different colors ranging from whitish tan to dark brown. Its free gills start out whitish but soon become pink, The stalk attaches to the cap like a ball and socket.
The deer mushroom grows on wood. It grows alone, scattered or in groups spring through fall; common and widely distributed in North America. It has only been seen a couple of times in Fontenelle Forest, once in Mormon Hollow.
The species name of this mushroom comes from the antler like shape of the spores which can only be seen microscopically. This fungus is also known as the fawn mushroom.
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