''Craterellus tubaeformis'' (formerly ''Cantharellus tubaeformis'') is an edible fungus, also known as yellowfoot, winter mushroom, or funnel chanterelle. It is mycorrhizal, forming

symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasi ...

associations with plants, making it very challenging to cultivate. It is smaller than the golden chanterelle (''Cantharellus cibarius'') and has a dark brown cap with paler gills and a hollow yellow stem. ''C. tubaeformis'' tastes stronger but less fruity than the golden chanterelle. It has a very distinctive smokey, peppery taste when raw. It grows in temperate and cold parts of Northern America and Europe, including Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and the British Isles, as well as in the Himalayas in Asia, including

Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur t ...

, in the central parts of the Indian subcontinent, and in Thailand. ''C. tubaeformis'' is a yellowish-brown and trumpet-shaped mushroom found in great numbers late in the mushroom season, thus earning the common name winter mushroom. The cap is convex and sometimes hollow down the middle. The gills are widely separated, and of lighter color than the cap. It grows on moss or rotten wood, and in Northern America it is found mostly in conifer bogs. It is an excellent food mushroom, especially fried or in soups, and is easily dried for preservation. Molecular phylogenetics has shown that ''C. tubaeformis'' deserves its reclassification from ''

Cantharellus ''Cantharellus'' is a genus of popular edible mushrooms, commonly known as chanterelles, a name which can also refer to the type species, ''Cantharellus cibarius''. They are mycorrhizal fungi, meaning they form symbiotic associations with plants ...

'' to ''

Craterellus ''Craterellus'' is a genus of generally edible fungi similar to the closely related chanterelles, with some new species recently moved from the latter to the former. Both groups lack true gills on the underside of their caps, though they often ...

''. Additionally, it appears that there are two distinct genetic populations that have traditionally been called ''tubaeformis'': one in Europe and eastern North America, and another in western North America. If these two groups are defined as separate species, the "eastern" yellowfoot would retain the scientific epithet ''tubaeformis'' due to the origin of the type specimens in Sweden. The western North American ''C. tubaeformis'' has been shown to make ectomycorrhizal relationships with western hemlock (''

Tsuga heterophylla ''Tsuga heterophylla'', the western hemlock or western hemlock-spruce, is a species of hemlock native to the west coast of North America, with its northwestern limit on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska, and its southeastern limit in northern Sonom ...

'') and Douglas-fir (''

Pseudotsuga menziesii The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

''). It is also most common in forests with a large amount of well-rotted

coarse woody debris Coarse woody debris (CWD) or coarse woody habitat (CWH) refers to fallen dead trees and the remains of large branches on the ground in forests and in rivers or wetlands.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition) ...

Description

The mushroom is mostly yellow-brown. The

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal s ...

is 1–4 cm wide, generally flat with a depressed center, funnel-shaped, waxy, with a wavy margin, and mild odor and taste. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

are shallow, decurrent, forked, and pale. The hollow stalk is 2–8 cm tall and 1 cm or less wide. The spores are whitish, elliptical, and smooth. It usually fruits later than other mushrooms, sometimes near ''

Hydnum repandum ''Hydnum repandum'', commonly known as the sweet tooth, wood hedgehog or hedgehog mushroom, is a basidiomycete fungus of the family Hydnaceae. First described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, it is the type species of the genus ''Hydnum''. The fungu ...

''. It usually grows in large groups.

Similar species

The edible ''

Craterellus lutescens ''Craterellus lutescens'', formerly sometimes called ''Cantharellus lutescens'' or ''Cantharellus xanthopus'' or ''Cantharellus aurora'', commonly known as Yellow Foot, is a species of mushroom. It is closely related to ''Craterellus tubaefor ...

'' differs in colour, and is found only in very wet places. Also similar is '' Cantharellus californicus''.

Edibility

Though small, the mushroom is choice and grows in large groups. It can be eaten with meat, in soups, pasta, and other dishes.

References

External links

''Craterellus tubaeformis''
MushroomExpert.com {{Taxonbar, from=Q371126 Cantharellales Edible fungi Fungi of North America Fungi of Europe Fungi described in 1888