Deceiver

Description

The deceiver is a small mushroom with a cap 1–6 cm across, salmon, flesh pink, orange or rusty brown. When moist it is more distinctly coloured and has a striate margin; when dry it fades and looks matt. Under the cap are widely spaced, thick gills of a similar colour, and the stem is slender, often twisted and fibrous.

It grows from June to November in deciduous and coniferous forests, at their edges, in parks, and sometimes in grass, usually in scattered groups. In Poland it is very common. Its appearance varies greatly, hence the English name "deceiver".

Only the caps are suitable for collecting; the stems are tough and stringy. It is easily confused with other small brownish mushrooms, including the poisonous Cortinarius semisanguineus, which has closely spaced gills and a rusty brown spore print. If you are not sure of the species, do not pick it or eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 1–6 cm; convex with an inrolled margin when young, later flat, finally depressed in the centre, often with a wavy, bent margin. Colour orange, rusty brown, flesh pink, salmon or brick red, rarely orange-ochre or olive-ochre; clearly paler and matt when dry. Hygrophanous: when moist it is translucently striate at the margin, when dry it shows no visible striation.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills widely spaced, irregular, broadly adnate or slightly decurrent, salmon or reddish brown, similar to the colour of the cap; they whiten with age from the settling spores.

Stem

Height 2–10 cm, thickness 3–10 mm, cylindrical, slender, often twisted, fibrous, tough and stringy. Colour same as the cap. White mycelium at the base. No ring.

Flesh

Thin; pale reddish in the cap, more intensely pink in the stem. Taste and smell indistinct. The flesh should not be tasted.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white. Spores round to broadly elliptical, spiny (spines up to 2 µm long), 7–10 µm in diameter. Basidia 4-spored.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Mycorrhizal fungus. Forms mycorrhiza with trees, including conifers of the pine family, beech family and birch family, and also with hazel; often occurs in large numbers in forest nurseries. Considered a pioneer species. Grows on poor soils, also on heathland.

Distribution. Widespread in North America (south to Mexico and Costa Rica), Asia and Europe, also in North Africa and Australia. Very common and widespread in Poland: in various types of forest, at their edges, in parks, sometimes in grass and in treeless places. It is not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From June to November; prefers cool weather.

What can it be confused with?

• Laccaria proxima (lakówka okazała) — Larger fruiting body, gills usually pink, cap finely scaly; grows in wetter habitats. Spores narrower and more oval.
• Laccaria bicolor (lakówka dwubarwna) — Base of the stem with violet mycelium.
• Cortinarius semisanguineus (Polish: zasłonak purpurowoblaszkowy) — Closely spaced gills and a rusty brown spore print. A poisonous species.
• Laccaria fraterna, Laccaria amethysteo-occidentalis — Species from outside Europe, similar to L. laccata; distinguishing them requires microscopic features and knowledge of distribution.

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

• Described by Giovanni Scopoli in 1772 as Agaricus laccatus; the current name was given by Mordecai Cubitt Cooke in 1884.
• It is the type species of the genus Laccaria.
• The English name "deceiver" comes from the very variable appearance of the fruiting bodies.
• It often occurs in large numbers in forest nurseries, where it forms mycorrhiza with tree seedlings.
• It is one of the many mushrooms traditionally gathered by the Zapotec people of Oaxaca in Mexico.