Chrysomphalina aurantiaca
Posted by Taylan 12/2/13
no pictures -- links to pictures below
Taylan:Today the OMS crowd gathered a large amount of Craterellus tubaeformis (formerly Cantharellus tubaeformis)- yellowfoot, winter mushroom, winter chanterelle, funnel chanterelle.
Further research reveals a striking resemblance to Chrysomphalina chrysophylla. Looks like the key lies in the gills vs. veins.
Joe:Gills v veins works for me, but may be too subtle for beginners. I certainly had problems making this distinction in close cases when I started out. Sava's description about movability of gills vs. non-movability of ridges helped me considerably. I try to gently nudge the gill/vein with the tip of a knife to see if it moves.
I don't know if I've ever seen Chrysomphalina chrysophylla. (I've certainly never ID'd it.) So perhaps one of our experts can comment on these questions:
1. Does Chrysomphalina chrysophylla fruit in our area this late in the year?
Mushroom Matchmaker says:
HABITAT gregarious on conifer logs, usually July and August in eastern North America, but through October in the Pacific Northwest, (Bigelow for var. chrysophylla), scattered or in clusters on rotting coniferous logs and moss, May to September, (Phillips), spring, summer, and fall, (Miller)
(Emphasis added.)
This gets some support from the fact that Mushroom Matchmaker has no PNW observations of Chrysomphalina chrysophylla later than October. (But there one observation on 2 Dec 2011 in Albion, California.)
2. Does Craterellus tubaeformis often have lighter gills than Chrysomphalina chrysophylla, and often has a sharp color distinction between veins and stem? See Michael Beug's photo from the PNW Key Council key. Does Chrysomphalina chrysophylla ever show this?
Taylan: The most recent reports of Chrysomphalina chrysophylla sigthings in our area was
in Eugene on 11/30/2013.
Look at the first and the third pics posted at http://bit.ly/Ip0ueA.
They look identical to what we found on Mt. Hood yesterday. Pic 2 shows gills and veins side by side.
Sava: I've seen C. chrysophylla only once (and only one mushroom), when I visited Britney Ramsey (South-East of Salem) in June 2012. My photos of it are on MO: http://mushroomobserver.org/100355?q=1f1xx. It's a much more yellow mushroom than Winter Chanterelle, but no doubt the two can look similar. It's a great photo that shows both of them; thanks for sending this link, Taylan.
Chrysomphalina aurantiaca seems to be a much more common species of this genus in our area. It can be found during Winter. It was growing in Tualatin Hills Nature Park a week ago when I was there.
Joe: And also my thanks for the link to the CMS post. The discussion and pictures are very instructive.
Among other things, they definitively refute the suggestion that C. chrysophylla cannot be found in the PNW after October.
The second (side-by-side) photo also shows a hymenophore (gill/vein) color difference, and a hymenophore-stem color distinction, between Craterellus tubaeformis from Chrysomphalina chrsophylla. I don't think this will work in all cases, but it could help.
http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Chrysomphalina%20aurantiaca
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