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
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Ridges on hymenium
Cap is convex
Hymenium is decurrent
Stipe is bare
Spore print is yellow
Ecology is mycorrhizal
Edibility is edible

Description

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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

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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

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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

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Although insubstantial, the mushrooms are edible.[5]

References

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  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.
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