False Chanterelle

Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca

Deciduous, coniferous and mixed forests, sandy places. Summer, autumn.

Fruiting bodies medium-sized, most often small. Cap 3-5 (8) cm across, fleshy, orange, orange-red, fading to yellow or even yellowish, velvety. Gills narrow, forked, orange-red, decurrent. Stem the colour of the cap, tapering, 3-5x0.5—1 (1.5) cm in size. Flesh yellowish, orange, without a particular smell or taste. Characteristic features: very similar to the Chanterelle, only less fleshy, more delicate, of a brighter orange colour, and sometimes growing even on rotten wood. Likes rotten pine and spruce stumps, their debris, or the sandy roots of fallen spruces or pines. Very common, edible, but of low value; collecting it for food is not recommended.