Funnel Chanterelle

Description

The funnel chanterelle is a small fungus with a cap 2–6 cm across, yellow-brown to grey-brown, deeply sunken like a funnel or trumpet, with a wavy margin. Instead of gills it has distant, thick, forked ridges, greyish to yellow-grey, which run down the hollow, ochre-yellow stem.

It grows in late autumn, until the first frosts, usually in large groups, in damp, mossy places in forests, most often under spruces and firs, also in the mountains. In Poland it is fairly common, although rarely collected.

What distinguishes it from other funnel-shaped mushrooms is the lack of true gills, the hollow stem and the small size. Collect only specimens whose species you are certain of.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 2–6 cm (descriptions also give 1–4 cm), trumpet-shaped and deeply umbilicate, with thin flesh and a strongly wavy margin; in old age it often opens into the hollow stem. Colour from yellow-brown to grey-brown; surface waxy.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Ridges (folds) clearly decurrent along the stem; narrow, thick, distant, forked, with numerous cross-connections (anastomoses). Young ones may be yellow, later yellow-grey or whitish-grey; paler than the cap.

Stem

Height 4–8 cm (descriptions also give 2–12 cm), thickness 0.4–1 cm, irregularly cylindrical, flattened and wrinkled, clearly hollow inside. Ochre-yellow below, greyish above. No ring.

Flesh

Yellowish-grey, thin. Smell barely perceptible, often earthy-musty. The taste is described as mild or, in the case of raw flesh, distinct, smoky-peppery. Do not taste unknown or suspicious mushrooms.

Spore print and spores

Spore print creamy yellow or pale orange-pink (descriptions differ); spores non-amyloid, smooth, almost colourless, measuring 9–12 × 5–10 µm; sometimes described as globose, although the dimensions rather indicate an ellipsoid shape.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Mycorrhizal fungus (ectomycorrhiza), which makes cultivation difficult. Grows on the ground, usually in large groups, in damp, mossy places among well-decayed wood remains. In Poland most often in mountain forests under spruces and firs, on acidic soils, but also on soils containing lime. In North America the western population forms mycorrhiza with western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). It may be found near the wood hedgehog (Hydnum repandum).

Distribution. Europe, North and Central America, Asia (including the Himalayas), Australia, according to some descriptions also a locality in Antarctica; in Poland fairly common. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. Late autumn, until the first frosts (in the Pacific Northwest from November to January); exact months for Poland — no data.

What can it be confused with?

• Craterellus lutescens (Polish: lejkowiec brzoskwiniowonny) — Stem golden-yellow, ridges greyish-white and poorly developed; according to some descriptions it grows only in very damp places.
• Cantharellus cinereus (Polish: pieprznik szary) — Stem and cap blackish-brown, ridges with a bluish bloom.
• Craterellus undulatus (Polish: lejkowiec pełnotrzonowy; confused with old specimens of the funnel chanterelle) — Rare; on fertile soils under oaks and hazels, often in dense clusters; stem grey-brown, cap bluish-grey with a curly margin.
• Cantharellus cibarius (Polish: pieprznik jadalny; the chanterelle) — Larger, entirely yellow, with a weaker, more fruity taste.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The English name "winter mushroom" comes from the fact that it fruits late, even until the first frosts.
• The species was moved from the genus Cantharellus to Craterellus on the basis of molecular studies.
• In 2017 a separate name, Craterellus neotubaeformis, was proposed for the population from the western part of North America.
• It is a mycorrhizal fungus, which makes it difficult to cultivate.