Craterellus lutescens

What You Should Know

Craterellus lutescens is closely related to Craterellus Tubaeformis. Its hymenium is usually orange or white, whereas the hymenium of C. tubaeformis is grey. C. lutescens is also usually found in wetlands.

The species is more brightly colored than Craterellus Tubaeformis. The cap is lobed irregularly and is brown to bistre. The hymenium and stipe are also more brightly coloured than C. tubaeformis. The hymenium is almost smooth or slightly veined and is pink. The stipe is yellow-orange. The species is edible.

An extract of Craterellus lutescens exhibits inhibitory activity on thrombin.

Synonyms: Cantharellus Xanthopus, Cantharellus Aurora.

Other names: Yellow Foot, Golden Chanterelle.

Craterellus lutescens Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Mycorrhizal; associated with conifers in wet conifer bogs; growing gregariously, often in moss or on well-decayed, mossy logs; summer and fall; originally described from Europe; in North America distributed in the northeast, the upper Midwest, the Appalachians, and Mexico; also recorded from the Caribbean, Central America, and western Asia.

2. Cap

   2–6 cm across; shallowly to deeply vase-shaped; bald, or with innate brown fibrils; brown to orangish brown or brownish-orange; fading to tan.

3. Undersurface

   Running down the stem; smooth or slightly wrinkled; bald; pastel orangish-yellow.

4. Stem

   2.5–5.5 cm long; 4–11 mm thick; equal, or tapered slightly toward the base; hollow; bald; lubricous; bright orange; basal mycelium white.

5. Flesh

   Whitish in the cap; orangish in stem cortex; insubstantial; unchanging.

6. Chemical Reactions

   KOH negative on cap surface. Iron salts negative on the undersurface.

7. Spores

   Spores 10–13 x 7–8 µ; subellipsoid to widely amygdaliform; smooth; hyaline in KOH, often with one large oil droplet. Basidia 50–60 x 7–9 µm; 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia not found. Elements of upper surface forming a loose trichoderm; 5–10 µm wide; cylindric; septate; walls 0.5 µm thick; hyaline to brownish in KOH; terminal cells with rounded apices. Clamp connections present.

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Andreas Kunze (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 2 - Author: Pau Cabot (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 3 - Author: Assar (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)