Cantharellus & Craterellus varieties

[Earthmom]

This is my very very favorite group of mushrooms. They are, as far as I know, all edibles and truly the most beautiful group. I am fortunate because I have a location where I find two or three varieties of BTs - cornucopioides & foetidus with one unknown variety - cinnebars, cantharellus minor aka little chanterelles, good old chanterelles, & craterellus ignicolor which be my favorite of them all next to cinnebars. I honestly wouldn't doubt if there were more that I'm confusing with a similar cousin but only time will tell.

This picture is what I THINK to be ignicolor. I say that because they are growing exactly where the ignicolors where at last year. These didn't really have the pink gills like those last year so it makes me wonder if they are not ignicolors but some form of craterellus I'm not familiar with yet. Anyway, here's a couple pics:
This could be a little chanterelles:

This really looks more like a little chanterelle than an ignicolor:

I'm fairly certain this is an ignicolor though because the stems of those are more oval/flat like a yellow foot but with pink gills. These are too far gone to really tell though:


The last photo to post is of the cantharellus minor/little chanterelles. You can tell you have that version because they are small (obviously), about the same size as cinnebars, and the color is orange, not egg yolk yellow like the chanterelle. Here a few buttons that were just starting. I put a full sized cinnebar next to them so you can see the size and color.



Here's a group of chants I found that day. Notice the very yellow color.

[Earthmom]

Well I've certainly topped myself this year ya'll! OMG, I had such an excellent time in the forest yesterday; trumpets everywhere but more importantly, I found a really weird variety of "chanterelle" that I just can't figure out! It's not as big a typical chanterelle but it has the very same density...the exact same flesh, same texture but they are sort of peachy, mostly buff colored caps with pinkish gills! It was so weird! But what was even weirder is that at one point, get this, I found six WHITE ONES! Yes, WHITE! I had a silent little freak out in the forest and broke out the cameras! Emailed a couple friends with phone images and seriously just had a quite little "wig out" moment. It was really great! And, what really really makes it a great discovery is that where ever the little buff chants were, so were there a crud load of trumpets! Man, what a great discovery. Of course there were cinnabars (the lovelies of the forest), c. minor aka little chanterelles and even a few normal chanterelles. Well, the little chanterelles were actually a bit different that the ones I find another location in that these are yellow on the cap and again, pinkish on the gills but still a version of the little chanterelle. I'm just obsessed with this clade! Here you go...photos galore:
First the weird buff chants with pinkish gills...




Regular chanterelles


The crazy white chanterelles growing with the buff chants


Lovely cinnabars


C. Minor aka little chanterelles that are a bit unusual


The trumpets which I'll also post in the BT section (tomorrow though)


A nice rainbow of mushrooms for my day!

[cisco]

Good finds Earthmom. White chaterelles aren't supposed to be in the midwest, but I found a couple once nearly 10 years ago. I was still a newbie and didn't know what I'd found. I still go back to that spot every year, but have never found another one.

I've seen a couple of other board posts over the years where other people have found a few.

[Earthmom]

Aug 5, 2011 5:03:35 GMT -6 cisco said:

Good finds Earthmom. White chaterelles aren't supposed to be in the midwest, but I found a couple once nearly 10 years ago. I was still a newbie and didn't know what I'd found. I still go back to that spot every year, but have never found another one.

I've seen a couple of other board posts over the years where other people have found a few.

CISCO - I thought I had found a white one a couple years ago, when I was a newbie, but it turned out to be either a russula or lactarius; I just didn't realize the difference in the gills back then. Anyway, I'm hoping to deliver them to the guy in LaCrosse who's working with Tom Volk on DNA sequencing of WI chanterelles! I don't want to mail them and it's a great excuse to mushroom hunt most the day! Please keep checking your spot for the white chants every year. HAPPY belated BDAY to you by the way!

[patrick]

Just found some craterellus ignicolor growing in a fairy ring today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9jHCUteFZs

[cisco]

I picked a couple of pounds of chanterelles today and started to see quite a few C. ignicolor. I didn't pick any of those but I like to see them.

[Earthmom]

Aug 5, 2011 12:22:48 GMT -6 patrick said:

Just found some craterellus ignicolor growing in a fairy ring today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9jHCUteFZs

DOH! That is so cool Patrick! Wow...man, cool! So were the gills also pink/ish? That fairy ring thing is super neat as well...argh! I've just gotta get out tomorrow

[Earthmom]

Aug 5, 2011 18:57:15 GMT -6 cisco said:

I picked a couple of pounds of chanterelles today and started to see quite a few C. ignicolor. I didn't pick any of those but I like to see them.

CISCO, Is there any chance you can take pictures of the ones you find?

[Earthmom]

Well this really turning in to an excellent summer for mushrooms!
EVERYONE, if you are out and see an interesting chanterelle type mushrooms, PLEASE take a picture of it growing, the gills, the top...take notes about what trees they are growing around and if possible, keep a dried one somewhere? Be sure to post the pics okay? Thanks!

***Tom Volk and staff are doing some DNA testing on our cantharellus/craterellus mushrooms in WI so that's why I ask that you all take pics & notes. It'll will be great to see what we actually do have in our great state.

[patrick]

The gills were the same color as the rest of the mushroom. Found some more kings, butter boletes and another 10lbs of chanterelles. Not a great year for them, but not a bad one either. I'm liking this board.

[Payne]

Good lord, Earthmom!!

[Earthmom]

Aug 5, 2011 12:22:48 GMT -6 patrick said:

Just found some craterellus ignicolor growing in a fairy ring today. www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9jHCUteFZs

PATRICK - this fairy ring gives me a theory as to why you can often find mushrooms growing near trails; could it be that the ground is disturbed often enough on trails that the mycelium isn't able to grow beyond it so the mushrooms fruit there...since it's the edge of the mycelium? I dunno...it seems like it could be tied together.

[patrick]

I don't think your theory is way off-base. I never find any of my edible mushrooms on main trails, except rare exceptions with morels.

[Earthmom]

As I said in the trumpet thread, I went to the location of the odd, and very yummy, peach/buff chants, and there was nothing. All the buttons that had been there just dried up. I found one that I can give to UWLa for research and that's it. I ate the others I had thinking I could go back this week and harvest more; wrong. At least I saved all the write chants for testing. I had thought of eating one but didn't thankfully. At this point, we need a whole week of rainy weather but I'm sure that won't happen.

[Earthmom]

Checked my craterellus ignicolor spot and found a very large one and some others that were pickable:







These guys all grow on the moss at the base of ferns which grow at the edge of a swampy area so the ground is wet most the time. They always grow in the same location but there were quite a few more last year.