Chanterelle with white covering

[1left]

I've heard mention of the half white chanterelle in the last few years, but a few of the chanterelles I'm finding on humid days seem to at least on young chanterelles to be more of a moist white powder covering the yolk color beneath. I'm noticing even Cortinarius caperatus is powdery as well in the humidity, I known young Gypsy mushrooms have a bloom but this is heavier and is on the stem and gills. It seems almost like a milder version of the Amanita Mold which is out in force here as well. Has anyone also notice this lately, I'm finding these in New Brunswick Canada. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos to show rubbing the stems to show the powderiness of the covering.

[John Smalldridge]

I'm guessing that what you are seeing is a Hypomyces infecting the chanterelles. This is one fungus attacking another fungus.I see this on my local chanterelles during very wet weather.

[1left]

Thanks John, I was surprised after reading your reply just how many different Hypomyces may be out there, one of my favorite websites list 12 Hypomyces, mostly mycoparasites of Russula, Lactarius, Amanita and Boletus. They had none listed for the Chanterelle family, but it may be just a matter of time.

[Dave W]

I don't see anything unusual in the photos. Young Cortinarius caperatus can have a substantial whitish bloom. I wonder if some of the chanterelles may have been overlapped by other ones, in which case the powder may be spores. I have seen chanterelles with a sorta white powdery appearance. I neverreally thought mush of it.

[vitog]

I have recently found a few Chanterelles with white mold growing on them. The mold seemed to be just on the surface and could be rubbed off; so I don't think that it was Hypomyces.

[John Smalldridge]

Vitog, mold may be another possibility I haven't thought of,and would make a lot of sense based on the high humidity or very wet conditions.

[1left]

Thanks everyone, here are some new photos. I've known this Chanty patch for15 years and this is the first year for any white ones. Today the humid is down and cooler and the covering isn't damp and will not rub away like it did in hot humidity, the flesh rubs off first with the white coating, internal flesh idenitical on both chantys, they will bruise and over time (15 minutes darken) like a typical yolk colored Chanterelle which is roughed up. I've saved a few of these whitish chantys and may mail them to a mycologist as this seems quite interesting at least to me. -- Hypomyces, mold, something else?

[John Smalldridge]

Those are some nice chanterelles regardless of what the cause is. Maybe they are true whites or maybe something affected that particular patches DNA recently.

[Dave W]

Those white chanterelles look like perfectly formed mushrooms with nothing parasitizing them. There's at least one species of "white chanterelle" that grows western NA. To my knowledge, this type is not known to occur in eastern NA. Very interesting! I agree, good idea to dehydrate a few and save for potential study.

[vitog]

Those white ones do not look like the Cantharellus subalbidus that we find in the west, and the white color is not from mold. They look like a color variant of one of the eastern N.A, Chanterelles. C. cibarius doesn't occur in N. America, according to Michael Kuo. Take a look at his MushroomExpert.com page on Cantharellus "cibarius". He says that Chanterelles in eastern N.A. are currently being studied to sort out their taxonomy and has suggestions for how to help.

[1left]

These small white covered Chanterelles have been in a paper bag since my last reply on the 19th and now look like typical New Brunswick, Canada yellow/orange Chanterelles once fully dried, remember when fresh I rubbed the stems on all 4 to see if the white would come off so bruising could be expected though the gills were not touched and still yellowed during the drying. I seen a few other spots last year with again small groups of 4 or 5 white mushrooms surrounded by large numbers of yellow Chantys which I have not got to yet this year, I'll post again if something interesting is to add. Also I did place some Ferrous Sulfate on both yellow and white Chantys on the out and inside flesh and got a bluish reaction on all the chantys.