Species flashcards

Description

Fruitbody: Differentiated into cap-like and stem-like parts. The cap is 3–10 cm across, convex when young, later flattening and finally funnel-shaped. Its margin is irregularly wavy and its colour whitish, pale yellow or cream-yellow. Usually larger and fleshier than golden chanterelle.

Fertile layer: The underside has blunt, veined, decurrent and forked ridges. Pale yellow to almost whitish.

Stem: 3–8 cm long, cylindrical, usually slightly tapering towards the base and solid. The same colour as the cap or a little paler.

Flesh: Whitish to pale cream, thicker and fleshier than that of golden chanterelle. Smell pleasantly fruity and taste mild.

Spores: Spore print whitish to pale cream; spores 8–10 × 5–6 µm, elliptical and smooth.

Occurrence: A mycorrhizal species of less acidic deciduous woodland, especially beneath beech and oak. Fruits from May to November and is locally common in Hungary.

Edibility: Edible, with culinary value equal to golden chanterelle.

Lookalikes: Most easily confused with golden chanterelle. The pale chanterelle is paler, often nearly whitish, and usually has a larger, fleshier fruitbody.

Note: Cantharellus derives from the Ancient Greek 'kántharos', a deep two-handled drinking cup, with the Latin diminutive ending '-ellus', referring to the funnel- or cup-shaped fruitbody. Pallens is the present participle of Latin 'palleo', meaning becoming pale or fading.

Species description: Albert Pilát described the species as Cantharellus pallens in 1959.

Taxonomy

1. PhylumBasidiomycota
2. ClassAgaricomycetes
3. OrderCantharellales
4. FamilyCantharellaceae
5. GenusCantharellus

• Species: Cantharellus pallens
• Authority: Pilát (1959)
• English name: Pale chanterelle
• Ecological status: mycorrhizal
• Edibility: edible