Cantharellus lateritius

[ Basidiomycetes > Cantharellales > Cantharellus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

I love this mushroom. When I lived in northwest Pennsylvania, Cantharellus lateritius was the most common chanterelle--and, to my taste, it is just as good as the "true" chanterelle, Cantharellus cibarius. Roger Phillips (1991) mentions a tendency for the "Smooth Chanterelle," as this mushroom is sometimes called, to grow "under oak, especially along pathsides." Whether this is a reliable habitat determination or not, my experience verifies the claim; I frequently found beautiful patches of Cantharellus lateritius along my favorite paths.

In one particularly dry year, my mushrooming buddy and I were so desperate to find Cantharellus lateritius in our usual spots that we hauled bucket after bucket of water out to the woods, watering our chanterelle patches. Sadly, nothing happened. We decided the problem was that we had used tap water, and vowed to use rainwater the next year. Fortunately, there was plenty of rain the next year and we didn't have to embarrass ourselves further.

The Smooth Chanterelle is easily recognized: it looks like a chanterelle with a smooth to merely shallowly wrinkled outer/under surface--as opposed to the under/outer surface of Cantharellus cibarius, which has well developed false gills. The smooth underside of Cantharellus lateritius makes it an even safer edible than the true chanterelles, since it isn't likely to be confused with gilled mushrooms.

Description:

Cap: 3-10 cm wide; flat, becoming shallowly vase-shaped with a wavy margin; more or less smooth; bright orange-yellow, frequently blackening in age at the margin (see illustration).

Undersurface: Smooth or with shallow wrinkles; colored like the cap.

Stem: 2-10 cm long; .5-2.5 cm thick; tapering to the base; colored like the cap or paler.

Flesh: White, soft.

Odor and Taste: Taste not distinctive; odor fragrant and sweet.

Chemical Reactions: Flesh pinkish gray to gray with iron salts; undersurface dark gray with iron salts. See Reactions to Iron Salts among the Chanterelles.

Spore Print: Pale pinkish yellow.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7.5-12.5 x 4.5-6.5 µ; smooth; elliptical.

REFERENCES: (Berkeley, 1873) Singer, 1949. (Corner, 1966; Smith, 1968; Bigelow, 1978; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1981; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Miller & Miller, 2006; Kuo, 2007.) Herb. Kuo 07079401, 07220304, 07110702.

Further Online Information:

Cantharellus lateritius at Roger's Mushrooms

© MushroomExpert.Com

Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2006, February). Cantharellus lateritius. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/cantharellus_lateritius.html