Cantharellus minor is a fungus native to eastern North America. It is one of the smallest of the genus Cantharellus, which includes other edible chanterelles.[1]

Cantharellus minor
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Cantharellales
Family: Cantharellaceae
Genus: Cantharellus
Species:
C. minor
Binomial name
Cantharellus minor
Peck (1872)
Synonyms

Merulius minor (Peck) Kuntze (1891)

Cantharellus minor
View the Mycomorphbox template that generates the following list
Ridges on hymenium
Cap is convex
Hymenium is decurrent
Stipe is bare
Spore print is yellow
Ecology is mycorrhizal
Edibility is edible

Description edit

Cantharellus minor is colored bright yellow to yellowish-orange.[2] The cap ranges from 0.5 to 3 centimetres (14 to 1+14 in) wide and is convex and umbonate, often shallowly depressed, becoming funnel-shaped in some. The yellowish gills are decurrent, fade to yellowish white in maturity,[3] and may seem large in proportion to the small fruiting body.[2] The stipe is 2–5 cm (34–2 in) tall and 3–6 millimetres (1814 in) thick.[2]

Similar species edit

Lookalikes include the Gulf Coast's C. tabernensis which has a darker center, Craterellus ignicolor which has shallower ridges and usually a depression in the cap, and Gloioxanthomyces nitidus which has a very circular margin, fairly straight stem and non-forking gills.[2]

Distribution and habitat edit

Native to eastern North America,[1] the fungi fruits from June to September.[2][4]

It is suspected of being mycorrhizal, found in association with oaks and moss.[1] Recently, C. minor has been reported from semi-evergreen to evergreen forests in the Western Ghats, Kerala, India forming ectomycorrhizal associations with tree species like Vateria indica, Diospyros malabarica, Hopea parviflora, and Myristica species.[3]

Uses edit

Although insubstantial, the mushrooms are edible.[5]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Kuo, M. (February 2006). "Cantharellus minor". MushroomExpert.Com. Retrieved 2011-03-24.
  2. ^ a b c d e Audubon (2023). Mushrooms of North America. Knopf. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-593-31998-7.
  3. ^ a b Mohanan C. (2011). Macrofungi of Kerala. Kerala, India: Kerala Forest Research Institute. ISBN 978-81-85041-73-5.
  4. ^ Miller Jr OK.; Miller HH. (2006). North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi. FalconGuides. Guilford, CN: Globe Pequot Press. p. 334. ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-1.
  5. ^ "Cantharellus minor". Rogers Plants. Archived from the original on 2011-11-07. Retrieved 2011-05-08.

External links edit