Pig's Ear

Description

Pig's ear is a large, clustered fungus shaped like a club or fan, with a flat-topped apex that becomes depressed over time. Young, it is lilac to violetish, later turning brown to ochre and orange-brown shades, and the margin of old specimens becomes ragged. Instead of gills it has thick, forked folds and ridges in violet tones on the underside, running down onto a short, indistinct stem. The flesh is soft, whitish and mild in taste.

It grows in damp, shady spruce and fir forests, less often in beech and mixed ones, in the litter, often on calcareous soils, from summer to autumn. The fruiting bodies are easy to overlook because their colours blend with the ground. In Poland it is rare and threatened with extinction.

It can be told from other funnel-shaped fungi by its smooth, scaleless cap and its violet, folded underside instead of gills or tubes. It is a partially protected species, so check the current regulations before collecting; if you are not certain of the species, do not pick it or eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Fruiting body 4–10 cm tall (up to 17–20 cm according to some descriptions) and up to 6 cm wide (up to 15 cm according to some). Young, it is club-shaped with a flat, truncated top that becomes depressed with age; older ones may be funnel- or fan-shaped, with a wavy margin, often consisting of several caps growing from a common base. Surface smooth or slightly wrinkled, felty in the centre from brown hyphae. The colour of the young fruiting body is lilac to violet, later orange-brown, ochre-brown and buff; the margin of old specimens may be ragged.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

No gills or tubes: the hymenophore is formed by thick, irregularly forked ridges and folds, joined into a network and running down the stem. Colour from violet to brown, surface wrinkled, in places pitted.

Stem

Indistinct, merging with the cap; solid, according to some descriptions 0.8–3 cm wide and 1–10 cm tall, finely hairy, becoming progressively rougher towards the base. Often fused with other fruiting bodies at the base. No ring. May turn brown when damaged.

Flesh

Soft; when moist it is ochre-yellowish and watery-veined (marbled), when dry uniformly whitish, according to some descriptions white-pink to lilac or cinnamon-buff. Thick under the centre of the cap, thinner towards the margins, crisp but more delicate than in a chanterelle. Odour faint, taste mild or slightly bitterish; in old fruiting bodies it becomes bitter.

Spore print and spores

Spore print dark yellow to orange-yellow. Spores ellipsoid, warty or wrinkled, with oil droplets, 9–14 × 4–7.5 µm (descriptions give different ranges); non-amyloid.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial mycorrhizal fungus, most often with spruce; silver fir and other firs, Douglas fir, pines, hemlock and, in Europe, European beech are also reported. Grows singly, in clusters or sometimes in rings, in damp, shady places with a thick layer of litter or rotting wood; prefers calcareous soils and higher elevations (above about 600 m a.s.l.).

Distribution. North America, Europe and Asia (including Japan, China, Nepal). In Poland it is rare, growing in spruce and fir forests, less often in beech and mixed forests with some spruce; by 2020, 49 localities had been reported in the scientific literature. A critically declining species (category E of the Red List), under partial protection in Poland (Dz.U. 2014 item 1408). In Europe it appears on the national red lists of at least 17 countries, and in the British Isles it is considered extinct. Threats are habitat loss and soil eutrophication.

Fruiting. Summer–autumn (in North America July–October, on the west coast October–December).

What can it be confused with?

• Turbinellus floccosus and Turbinellus kauffmanii — Similar funnel shape, but the cap is covered with scales and the hymenophore lacks violet tones.
• Gomphus crassipes — Macroscopically very similar; reliably distinguishable only under the microscope – spores usually longer (about 11–17 × 5.5–7 µm) and more finely wrinkled. Occurs in Spain and North Africa.
• Gomphus ludovicianus — Macroscopically very similar; a North American species.
• Pseudocraterellus pseudoclavatus — Similar in habit; grows under conifers in North America, differs in microscopic features and in its reaction to KOH.
• Polyozellus multiplex — Has different spores and a darker, bluish colour of the fruiting bodies.

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

• It was named Mushroom of the Year 1998 by the German Mycological Society, partly to draw attention to its endangered status.
• In Poland it was under partial protection in 1995–2004, under strict protection in 2004–2014, and again under partial protection since 2014.
• It has not been recorded in the British Isles since 1927 and is considered extinct there.
• In the Sherpa language in Nepal it is called "Eeshyamo" ("mother-in-law"), and in 1781 Wulfen noted that the poor ate it under the name "hare's ear".