Subject: identity of tiny cantherellus?

From: [email-masked] (Dayjay)
Date: 14 Sep 1996 17:08:58 -0400

Fruiting in profusion currently, northern NY state, on a mossy log, on
non-mossy parts of the log, and on the ground in mostly conifer forest
(log is prob. conifer but not sure), is a tiny chanterelle, with the
larger ones being one and a half inches tall, and the cap being three
quarter inch diameter.   Many are smaller.  The undersurface of the cap is
orange yellow, and the stalk is simlar  color but more orange.  The stalk
is hollow.  The top of the cap is brown (like a yellow- brown).  Some caps
have a central perforation.  The stalks are hollow.  What is it and is it
edible?  Thank you in advance, Jayne.

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From: [email-masked] (David Bartolotta)
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 08:46:22 GMT

>edible?  Thank you in advance, Jayne.

Cantharellus infundibuliformis, sometimes called Cantharellus
tubaeformis, or Funnel Chanterelle, or Yellow Foot.  A very tasty
chanterelle, though not as "toothsome" as the C. cibarius.  Arora says
it is found: "On ground, moss, or rotten wood in wet conifer forests
or bogs, often in large numbers".

Enjoy!

David

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From: Iréne Andersson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 19:31:38 +0200

Hi there!

> >edible?  Thank you in advance, Jayne.

To me the description sounds more like what we in Sweden call
Cantharellus lutescens or Cantharellus xanthopus (I don´t know your
common name for it), even more tasty than Cantharellus tubaeformis. Make
sure that the undersurface of the cap doesn´t have regular lamellae, but
just ribs. This mushroom usually grows on wet places. 
As the described ones seem to grow both on wood and on the ground, it
makes me a bit suspicious... 
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From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 01:03:09 GMT

>edible?  Thank you in advance, Jayne.

Sounds like a "classic" Cantharellus infundibuliformis or Funnel
Chanterelle aka Winter Chanterelle to quote Arora's "Mushrooms
demystified:"

"Cap 1-6cm, convex to plane w/ a depressed center or becoming broadly
depressed to funnel-shaped (often with a perforated or hollow center)
in age;  surface smooth to slightly wrinkled or finely
fibrilose-scaley, not viscid, dark brown to dingy yellow brown,
sometimes fading to paler brown or the yellowish background color
becoming dominant as it dries or ages.  Margin usually wavy or
irregularly lobed.  Flesh thin, pliant, tough, colored like cap or
paler, odor mild or slightly fragrant, taste mild or bitterish.
Underside (fertile surface)  with shallow (narrow), thick blunt,
well-spaced, decurrent, forked or veined gills, pale yellow or pale
orarge-yellow becoming grayish, brownish or violet tinged in age.
Stalk 2-8cm long, 3mm to 1cm thick, equal or tapered at each end,
smooth, often grooved and/or flattened, becoming hollow, orange yellow
to yellow, duller in age (dingy yellow or yellow-brown to grayish
orange.  Spore print creamy buff to yellowish but white in one form.

Habitat:  Scattered to gregarious in moss and humus and on rotting
wood in cold, damp coniferous bogs throughout Northern America.

Edibility:  Edible but small and thin fleshed.  Some people relish it
nevertheless and in Finland it is harvested commercially.

He goes on to say:  This characteristic feature of northern bogs and
cold coniferous forests can be recognized by its modest size, dark
brown to dingy yellow brown cap, yellowish to gray or purple tinged
gills and slender, hollow, yellow to orange yellow stalk.    The gills
have a somewhat waxy look (leading to possible confusion with
Hygrocybe and Camarophyllus) but are characteristically
"chanteresque":  thick, blunt, shallow and conspicuously forked and/or
veined and or wavy."

He talks about several other and similar chants some of which I've
found but I haven't found the species you seem to be talking about,
guess I'll have to seek out some bogs this weekend.  If you know your
"chants" well enough to feel comfortable that they are indeed some
kind of chant then I'd try a few.  But when in doubt throw it out!

Good luck and keep an eye out for the various dentinum=hydnum repandum
(sweet tooth) and umbiculatum.  You should be able to find the
umbiculatum in the same areas, they are not as good as d. repandum but
still pretty good.  Like the funnel chant it has a hollow stem and
often a central opening but is a toothed fungi with white to pale
orange spines or teeth, but find a good field guide and make
sure...but an easy one to "key out."  

Stephen