False chanterelle

Description

The false chanterelle has a funnel-shaped cap 2–7 cm in diameter, yellow, orange to red-orange, with a dry, delicately felty surface. Underneath it has thin, crowded, repeatedly forked gills in orange shades, running down the stem. The stem is thin, darker at the base, and the flesh is soft, without an apricot smell.

It grows mainly from September to November in coniferous and mixed forests, on humus, needles and dead wood, under firs, beeches and pines, and also on wood chips in gardens. It occurs singly or in groups.

It is sometimes confused with the chanterelle. The chanterelle has ridges instead of thin gills, a paler colour and an apricot smell. The false chanterelle is inedible and may cause stomach complaints, although some people regard it as harmless. Do not collect it for eating.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 2–7 cm (descriptions also give 2–10 cm). Thin-fleshed when young, convex with an inrolled margin, buff; later funnel-shaped in the centre, with a folded or bent margin. Colour from yellow through orange-yellow and orange to red-orange. Surface dry, somewhat matt, delicately felty (downy).

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills thin, crowded, repeatedly forked, running down the stem, sometimes wavy; orange-yellow or orange, usually more intense than the cap. They are not ridges as in the chanterelle, but true gills.

Stem

Height 3–5 cm (descriptions also give 1.5–8 cm), thickness 3–10 mm, cylindrical at the bottom, widening conically towards the top and merging smoothly into the cap; often off-centre. Solid in young specimens, hollow in older ones. Colour like the gills, blackish or brownish at the base, surface felty. No ring.

Flesh

White, cream to yellowish (according to some descriptions to golden-orange), soft and juicy. Smell and taste mild or indistinct, bitter-sour (some descriptions: bland or unpleasant, earthy). No apricot smell characteristic of the chanterelle. Do not taste it.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white to pale yellow or cream. Spores elliptical, smooth, 5.5–7 × 4–4.5 µm (descriptions give different ranges); walls thicken with age, dextrinoid in Melzer's reagent (red-brown), cyanophilic.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A saprotroph on forest litter and dead wood, causing brown rot of the wood. Grows in coniferous and mixed forests (under firs, beeches, pines), on heathland, on humus of needles, leaves and wood waste, on wood chips in gardens, on burnt sites. It releases large amounts of oxalic acid, which affects the weathering of the humus layer and the flow of nutrients.

Distribution. Widespread: Europe, North, Central and South America, northern Asia, Australia, New Zealand. In Poland it grows in coniferous and mixed forests (singly or in groups, sometimes in large numbers). Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From September to November; in North America from July to October in the east.

What can it be confused with?

• Cantharellus cibarius (chanterelle) — The chanterelle has ridges instead of true gills, a paler colour, a thicker stem, firmer flesh and an apricot smell. The false chanterelle has more crowded, forked gills, a darker, more orange colour, a thinner stem with a dark base and soft, thin flesh.
• Cantharellus friesii (orange chanterelle) — Listed as similar; detailed differences — no data.
• Omphalotus spp. (jack-o'-lantern) — Poisonous; they have straight, unforked gills.
• Chrysomphalina chrysophylla, Aphroditeola olida, Haasiella splendidissima — Gills unforked; A. olida has smaller, pinkish fruiting bodies and a sweetish smell, H. splendidissima a pink spore print.

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

• Wulfen described it in 1781 and at once noted that the inexperienced may confuse it with the chanterelle, while its true nature is very different.
• Fries described it in 1821 as venenatus (poisonous).
• It releases large amounts of oxalic acid, which affects the weathering of humus and the availability of phosphorus and nitrogen to trees.