GROWING GOURMET - Anto2ni.it

Introduction: Before the publication of my
first book, I had a long term affection for this
mushroom but never attempted eating it until
Elsie Coulter of Hayden Lake, Idaho first told
me that H. capnoides was her favorite edible
mushroom. When a person with the depth of
knowledge of an Elsie Coulter tells you a
mushroom is her choice edible, you better listen!
A true saprophyte, H. capnoides is an aggressive
conifer stump decomposer. One
precaution is in order. Hypholoma capnoides is
not a mushroom for those unskilled in mushroom
identification. Several poisonous
mushrooms resemble this mushroom and inhabit
the same ecological niche. I can imagine
how overly enthusiastic mycophiles, in their
lust for delectable fungi, could mistake
Galerina autumnalis, a deadly poisonous
mushroom sharing the same habitat, for H.
capnoides. Cultivators should be forewarned
that several mushroom species, inoculated or
Hypholoma capnoides (Fries) Quelet
GROWTH PARAMETERS 237
Figure 211. Culturea mycelium ot ii. capnoides.
Note growth zones.
not, can inhabit a single stump or log. This danger is entirely avoided by honing identification skills,
or by growing H. capnoides indoors on sterilized sawdustlchips.
Common Names: The Brown Gilled Clustered Wood Lover
Smoky Gilled Hypholoma
Elsie's Edible
Taxonomic Synonyms & Considerations: Hypholoma capno ides is known by many as
Naematoloma capnoides (Fr.) Karst. A sister species to H. capnoides is Hypholomafasciculare
(Hudson ex Fr.) Kummer (=Naematolomafasciculare (Fr.) Quelet), well worth knowing since it is
poisonous! These two mushrooms are sometimes difficult to tell apart until the mushrooms are upturned
and the gills are examined. H. capnoides has smoky brown gills whereas H. fasciculare has
gills that are bright greenish yellow to dingy yellow in age. Furthermore, H. fasciculare is extremely
bitter flavored whereas H. capnoides is mild. Once studied, these two species can be separated without
difficulty.
Description: Cap orange to orangish yellow to orangish brown to dull brown, 2-7 cm. broad at maturity.
Convex with an incurved margin, soon expanding to broadly convex to almost flattened,
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