A couple mycophiles from California dropped by the Garden today looking for an identification on this fungus that they found on the eastern side of Vancouver Island (near Courtenay, I think). They are nearly certain it is Cantharellus subalbidus, but are looking for confirmation. Some details: Growing in soil underneath salal in a Douglas-fir forest Specimen is two days old, non-refrigerated When first picked, the specimen was nearly white with a slight flush of tan on the top of the cap Doesn't seem to have true gills At this stage, it is quite firm I'm really only familiar with some of the chanterelles from where I grew up, and I remembered those as being a bit more firm marshmallow-y in texture.
It almost looks like a Hypomyces infection on the underside. My primary question is how big these things are.
Ah, I should have had something for scale. The scanned one is about 7cm/3in tall, a second one I saw was about 2/3 of that size.
Right size -- but i'm not comfortable with two things. First is the lack of gills (ridges) going down the stalk - which actually cues me into a Hypomyces. Second is the discoloring of the fruiting body - i'd want to hear from someone who has collected these and kept them around for a few days as to whether it's common for Cantharellus subalbidus to discolor like this.
C.subalbidus do stain orange/tan with age, and I have eaten stained ones with much gustatory pleasure resulting. All of them stained or not so much that I've directly experienced have been very firm. I've not seen one this stained but then I'm not often in C.subalbidus habitat. -frog
