Chanterelles and their impostors

[Dave W]

While out in the woods today I ran across a few Smooth Chanterelles, as well as some nice fruitings of two types of False Chanterelles. The idea for this thread then occurred to me.

First, the impostors...

Omphalotus illudens, the Jack 'o Lantern Mushroom. Although Charles MacIlvaine (19th century American author) considered these to be good food, they are drastic sickeners for some people. In MacIlvaine's own words... "I have several times eaten of it without other than pleasurable sensations, but others partaking of the same cooking have been sickened." Sounds like a real bummer of a pot-luck party to me! Known also as Clitocybe illudens, and a few other names similar to the ones posted here. When very fresh, these glow in the dark!

The classic False Chanterelle, Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca. I have never eaten these. Some reports list them as poisonous.

Note how in each of the False Chanterelles categories the gills are composed of material that is different from the rest of the cap. Also, the interior flesh is dingy-colored to orange. Except for when they get old or a bit waterlogged, real chants have interior flesh that is white... like the inside of the Smooth Chanterelle seen in the next photo.

Cantharellus cibarius types have what look like gills, but these are just ridges which are composed of the same material that makes up the rest of the cap.

Smooth Chanterelles (Cantharellus lateritius) can be almost smooth, bumpy, veinlike, or with fairly well-developed folds on the undersides.

Cinnabar Chanterelles are generally smaller than the yellow types. But if there is a stretch of wet summer weather, they can get bigger than usual.

[dualsetters]

I definitely find more jack o lanterns than anything. I believe I have found many of the false chanterelles (H.aurantiaca) also. I read somewhere that gills easily break off by pushing your thumb into them and this seems true of these two types of mushrooms.

On my list of mushrooms to find this summer black trumpets, horn of plenties and red chanterelles are still left unchecked. I believe these all fall in the same category and wondered if red and cinnabar chanterelles were the same.

Thanks for the informative thread.

DS

[tortoise]

I am pretty sure these are Cinnabar Red Chanterelle (Cantharellus cinnabarinus). They have false gills and the inner flesh of the stem is white. Could they possibly be anything else? I just found these today in south Florida and the ground was blanketed in some spots.

[Sunny_0ne]

tortoise, I would say those are definitely cinnabar chanterelles. They look just like ones I have found.

However, I am a relative newbie, so I'd like to see someone else confirm my opinion.

[Dave W]

Those look like Cinnabar Chants. Although there is another species that occurs in southern North America... pretty much the same type of mushroom as Cantharellus cinnabarinus. Large patches where the ground is covered with ltiile red dots are common. Cinnabar Chants, like most chants, have a pleasant aroma. Inner flesh white is a good character to note.

[TeaJay]

Found some Jack-o-Laterns this weekend on an old stump. The tops were not glowing, but when i knocked it over, and the gills had a definate glow... one of the most facinating fungi i have observed. Would post pictures but my camera wouldnt capture the faint glow. Side note on Jack-o-lanterns; they almost always grow on rotted wood or roots, Chantrelles never do.

[Dave W]

If you carry a very fresh cluster of Jack 'o Lantern into a completely dark room, then you stand a good chance of seeing dramatic luminescence on the gills. It doesn't always work, but when it does it's memorable.

[Feral Boy]

Going farther afield, there are some orange-colored Lactarius and Russula. Those can be

distinguished easily, both have brittle stalks that break like chalk, and most Lactarius produce

white or colored latex when cut.

[shawn9191]

I am 98% sure the smooth ones are smooth chants, the other ones on left side of pics look like orange chants to me but would like some other opinions. All found within 30' of oaks. The orange ones are very small most under .5" wide, largest is 1".

[ladyflyfsh]

The cinnabar chant you found, tortoise, could possibly be Cantharellus texensis but is identical in every way to cinnabarinus except the spores are bigger in texensis. I pick them in Gainesville, FL.

[Dave W]

Shawn, regarding those Smooth Chants seen above, I think we can safely up the confidence from 98% to near 100% on the ID. Cantharellus lateritius is pretty easy to ID when in the early stages of development and the fertile surface is almost complely smooth. As this type mushroom matures, and if there is sufficent rainfall, the smooth fertile surface often develops raised veins; the surface becomes ridged. Sometimes the veins may develop to the point where they alsmost look like gills.

[shawn9191]

Thanks Dave, the other ones were found with the smooth chants and have a white stem but the gills didn't look like they progressed down the stem enough to make me sure that they were chants or something else. They bruise a little darker that the actual mushroom color and smear like butter. I tried one of the smooth chants last night for my first time and they were one of the best shroom I've ever tasted. I'm hooked!

[Dave W]

Shawn, I just looked at the photo again. The ones with the smooth fertile surface are Smooth Chants. But I had failed to notice the "other mushrooms" that you mentioned in your latest post. My bad! The ones with the gills are not Chanterelles. These are a species of Hygrocybe (Hygrophorus in the older field guides), otherwise known as Waxy Caps. There are a multitude of Waxy Cap species which occur throughout North America. Recently, a field guide has become available just for these types. Although the genus Hygrophorus includes a few good edibles, most species are of unknown edibility. Virtually all of the mushrooms in genus Hygrocybe (which I think is what your gilled mushrooms are) are listed as "edibility unknown."

[Evan]

The smaller ones could also be Cantharellus minor, small chanterelles. I find a lot of these along trails this time of year in PA. They are pretty small and weigh nothing, so it would take a lot for a meal, but are listed as good edibility in the Audubon guide. Be sure to check back where you found the smooth chants every few days, especially a day or two after rain.

[cborchids]

Somewhere above is inquiry about black trumpets. I was out surveying a new patch of oak forest yesterday, it's been raining a LOT in Georgia, and found a number of patches of golden chanterelles (slightly smaller than the ones in California, rarely more than 4 inches across) - got to where my bag and basket were both stuffed - and started finding patches of black trumpets. My experience here and in California is that they like lignified soil (trees rotted into it), and very much to be on the top edge of a slope or just at the flat area above a slope, with great drainage. And they're hard to see at first but soon enough you'll see they're like little lettuces - clumps of them - everywhere. Once you see that first one, its all over.

[kylekaz363]

I thought I had heard that you can only see jack o' lantern mushrooms (Omphalotus illudens) glowing in the dark if they are sporulating.

Is this true? If so, wouldn't that mean that you would not be able to see them glow at a young age?

[Dave W]

Yup, once you see one or two, more will likely appear. Large fruitings of Black Trumpets are not uncommon.

The Black Trumpet species of eastern NA and western NA are likely different. So I would expect there to be some differences in habitat for the different types. Even here in PA, I find what seems to be different types of Black Trumpets. I just found some nice ones under oak the other day, and I'll send a few to a person who'se doing research on these types of mushrooms. Well... just a few :-) The majority went into Black Trumpet cream cheese dip that I took to a potluck party yesterday.