Old Man Of The Woods

Description

The old man of the woods is easy to recognise: its cap, up to 15 cm across, is covered with thick, overlapping, grey-brown, woolly scales, which make it look like a pine cone. The underside consists of large, angular pores, whitish-grey in young specimens, then grey-brown to blackish. The stem is very tough and also shaggy. Damaged flesh and tubes turn red, then black.

It grows from summer to autumn in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, under beeches, in the mountains also under spruces and firs. In Poland it is rare, more often found in the mountains in the south of the country.

The species is under partial protection, so collecting is restricted by regulations. If you are not sure of the identification, do not collect or eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 4–15 cm (descriptions give different ranges); in young specimens hemispherical, then convex to flattened, with an inrolled, shaggy margin. Covered with characteristic, overlapping, thick, erect, woolly tufts (scales), grey-brown with darker tips. Surface dry.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Tubes up to 14 mm long, adnate or decurrent; colour from whitish in young specimens to grey-brown (sometimes with a reddish tinge) in older ones. Pores angular, relatively large, light grey, blackening with age; in young specimens covered by a whitish-grey veil, whose remnants stay on the cap margin. Damaged tubes first turn red, then black-violet.

Stem

Thickness 1–3 cm, height up to 15 cm; cylindrical, slightly narrowing towards the cap, very tough. Colour similar to the cap, covered with numerous cottony, grey-brown tufts. Beneath the cap a vanishing ring (also described as thick, ascending, or merely bands of veil remnants). Turns reddish when damaged.

Flesh

Fleshy, sometimes dry and springy, woody in the stem. Whitish in young specimens, turns red when damaged, then browns to dark brown or blackish. Taste and smell weak.

Spore print and spores

Spore print purple-brown (also described as blackish). Spores globose to ellipsoid, surface reticulately ornamented; size 9–15 × 8–12 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Terrestrial mycorrhizal fungus; with beech, in the mountains also with spruce and fir. Grows singly or in groups in deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, more often in the lower mountains.

Distribution. Europe, North America (east), Asia (Iran, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China), West Africa; in some descriptions also South and Central America. In Poland rare, more often in the mountains of southern Poland. Red List 2006: R (rare). Protection: partial since 2014 (Dz.U. 2014 item 1408), formerly strict.

Fruiting. From summer to autumn (from July to October).

What can it be confused with?

• Strobilomyces confusus — Cap slightly smaller, with smaller, stiff scales; spores with irregular ridges partly forming a net. A North American species.
• Strobilomyces dryophilus — Cap dull grey-pink to pinkish-beige, spores with a complete net. A North American species.

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 species was described in 1770 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli.
• The designer was Alojzy Balcerzak. Switzerland issued a stamp with the old man of the woods in 2014.
• Until 2014 the old man of the woods was under strict protection in Poland; it is now under partial protection.
• According to some descriptions it is the only representative of the genus Strobilomyces in Europe.