Craterellus ignicolor

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Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks, beech, and birches; growing gregariously or in clusters in moss or sphagnum in damp, shady areas; apparently widely distributed in eastern North America; summer and fall. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Michigan.

Cap: 1.5-5 cm wide; planoconvex when very young but soon developing a central depression and, eventually, becoming vase-shaped, with a perforated center; with a wavy and often irregular or scalloped margin at maturity; slightly moist when fresh, but soon dry; bald or, when young, with a canescent sheen from tiny, appressed, whitish fibrils; bright orange to orangish yellow or brownish yellow, fading with age to dull yellowish.

Undersurface: With fairly well developed, thick, blunt false gills that run down the stem; becoming cross-veined; pale yellow to grayish at first, developing pinkish to faintly purplish hues at maturity and, eventually, becoming very pale tan.

Stem: 2-6 cm long; 3-10 mm thick; equal or tapering to base; becoming hollow; bald, with a somewhat waxy texture; bright orange-yellow to orange; basal mycelium bright yellow.

Flesh: Thin; whitish.

Odor and Taste: Taste not distinctive; odor not distinctive, or slightly fruity.

Spore Print: Pinkish yellow to yellow.

Chemical Reactions: Iron salts grayish to negative on undersurface; negative on flesh. KOH negative on cap surface.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-12 x 6-8 ellipsoid; smooth; faintly ochraceous in KOH; with minutely granular contents; cyanophilous. Basidia 4-sterigmate; 65-75 long. Hymenial cystidia not found. Pileipellis not differentiated. Elements of upper surface 5-7.5 wide; hyaline in KOH; smooth; clamped at septa.

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