At the time of this writing (2006), Cantharellus and Craterellus are in a state of flux as a result of preliminary DNA studies that have shaken the traditional arrangements. Species of Gomphus, historically treated with Cantharellus and Craterellus in a family known as the "Cantharellaceae," are apparently more closely related to stinkhorns and coral mushrooms than to the chanterelles--and some species of Cantharellus appear to belong in Craterellus (Craterellus tubaeformis, for example, which used to be "Cantharellus tubaeformis"). See the Cantharellus/Craterellus Clade for more information.
I suspect that ecology, as much as DNA, may eventually help to sort out the species in Cantharellus and Craterellus. Species of Cantharellus in the "cibarius group" are mycorrhizal partners with trees, while other "Cantharellus" species may be saprobes, helping to decompose forest debris; it is these potentially saprobic species that appear to be genetically closer to Craterellus than to Cantharellus. I have often wondered whether it would be worth exploring a potential relationship between some species of Craterellus and moss, since the organisms often seem to appear together.
The key below covers Cantharellus and Craterellus in North America--but it should be noted that these mushrooms are currently under mycological scrutiny, and the picture is likely to change. I have transferred some species from Cantharellus to Craterellus in this treatment, based on gut instinct and what has happened with Craterellus tubaeformis--but this Web page is not a sanctioned mycological publication (and I am an English teacher, not a mycologist), so these mushrooms still officially belong in Cantharellus. A list of sources for Cantharellus and Craterellus follows the key.
Key to Cantharellus and Craterellus in North America
| 1. | Mature mushroom medium-sized to large; fairly tough and fleshy; often with a central depression that is coarsely scaly; some species growing in clusters with shared stem bases; spores somewhat wrinkled or warted (not smooth). | |
| 1. | Mature mushroom variously sized; fleshy or thin-fleshed; without a coarsely scaly central depression (or, if so, then thin-fleshed); growing alone, gregariously, or in clusters but not sharing stems; spores smooth. | 2 |
| 2. | Mushrooms small to medium-sized, usually growing in or near moss or sphagnum; either thin-fleshed and vase-shaped--or with a hollowing stem and often, at maturity, a perforation in the center of the cap. | 3 |
| 2. | Mushrooms variously sized; usually not growing in moss or sphagnum; fleshy; usually not becoming hollow in the stem or developing a perforation in the center of the cap. | 19 |
| 3. | Yellow to orange shades present, at least on the under surface and/or stem. | 4 |
| 3. | Yellow to orange shades absent--except, perhaps, as a faint dusting on the under surface of mature specimens. | 10 |
| 4. | Under or outer surface smooth, wrinkled, or somewhat veined--but without well developed false gills. | 5 |
| 4. | Under or outer surface with well developed false gills. | 8 |
| 5. | Mushroom thin-fleshed and deeply vase-shaped, without a clearly defined cap. | 6 |
| 5. | Cap and stem fairly clearly defined. | 7 |
| 6. | Individual caps sharing stem bases in dense, tightly-packed clusters; caps sometimes fused together at their edges; distribution primarily in the Gulf Coast states and Mexico. | |
| 6. | Stem bases not shared; caps not fusing together; rare on the West Coast and even more rare (or absent) elsewhere. | |
| 7. | Cap surface with tiny brownish fibers over a yellowish to orangish base color, usually developing tiny scales by maturity (use a hand lens). | |
| 7. | Cap surface yellow and smooth, or with yellow fibers. | |
| 8. | Mature cap surface brown. | |
| 8. | Mature cap surface yellow to orange. | 9 |
| 9. | Found in well drained pine-hardwood forests in the Gulf Coast states, usually near slash pine. | |
| 10. | Growing in early spring in eastern North America, attached to hardwood sticks or hardwood debris; goblet-shaped or cup-shaped. | |
| 11. | Blue to purplish shades present in fresh, young specimens. | 12 |
| 11. | Blue to purplish shades absent. | 13 |
| 12. | Growing in dense clusters, often with stem bases fused, under conifers in northern and montane North America. | |
| 12. | Growing scattered or gregariously (not in dense clusters) in sphagnum bogs in the Great Lakes region. | Craterellus caeruleofuscus |
| 13. | Mature under or outer surface smooth to shallowly wrinkled. | 14 |
| 13. | Mature under or outer surface prominently wrinkled or veined. | 17 |
| 14. | Mature mushrooms wider than 2 cm across. | |
| 14. | Mature mushrooms less than 2 cm across. | 15 |
| 15. | Known from North Carolina "in small clusters on wood or deep woody humus" (Petersen 1969); cap edge hairy to fringed; spores 8-10.5 x 5-7 µ. | Craterellus carolinensis |
| 15. | Not completely as above. | 16 |
| 17. | Mushrooms deeply vase-shaped or tubular from the beginning; odor sweet and strong; usually growing in clusters of 2-4 mushrooms; found in eastern North America's hardwood forests. | |
| 17. | Mushrooms not vase-shaped or tubular from the beginning, but developing a central depression or perforation with maturity; odor variable; growing alone, gregariously, or in dense clusters; distributed variously. | 18 |
| 18. | Known from South America and Central America; growing alone, scattered, or in small clusters. | |
| 18. | Known from North America--primarily in disturbed-ground areas (road banks, paths, etc.) in northern and eastern hardwood forests; often growing in tightly packed clusters of 3 or more mushrooms. | |
| 19. | Known from Central America under oaks; cap surface purplish gray; false gills creamy. | |
| 20. | Found in western North America. | 21 |
| 20. | Found east of the Rocky Mountains. | 26 |
| 21. | Cap, false gills, and stem white, bruising orangish brown; growing under conifers. | |
| 22. | Growing under firs; cap surface dull yellow, with a pinkish bloom when very young; false gills brilliant orange, frequently contrasting markedly with the cap; surfaces not bruising brownish to brownish orange when handled. | |
| 22. | Not completely as above. | 23 |
| 23. | Growing under hemlock, Douglas-Fir, spruce, or lodgepole pine in the coastal Pacific Northwest; false gills usually distinctly pinkish when young; cap surface developing small scales and appressed fibers; stem often tapered gracefully to the base. | |
| 23. | Not completely as above. | 24 |
| 24. | Growing under Coast Live Oak in northern California; cap smooth and egg-yolk yellow; false gills pale yellow; stem not usually tapered to base; often pushing up through forest debris so that leaves and mud stick to the mushrooms' surfaces. | |
| 24. | Not completely as above. | 25 |
| 25. | Growing under hemlock or Douglas-Fir in the Pacific Northwest; false gills pale orange yellow when young; cap sometimes fading to whitish from the center outwards; stem usually club-shaped or swollen; cap surface smooth or very finely hairy but not typically developing tiny scales. | Cantharellus cascadensis |
| 25. | Not completely as above. | |
| 26. | Cap, false gills, and stem bright cinnabar red. | |
| 26. | Cinnabar red shades absent. | 27 |
| 27. | Surfaces bruising purple; recorded from North Carolina. | Gloeocantharellus purpurascens
Full description and photo on page 182 of Giachini, 2004 (link below) |
| 27. | Purple bruising absent. | 28 |
| 28. | Under surface smooth, shallowly wrinkled, or with broad and poorly developed false gills. | 29 |
| 28. | False gills well developed. | 30 |
| 29. | Undersurface smooth or merely shallowly wrinkled; growing alone, scattered, gregariously, or in small clusters under oaks and other hardwoods east of the Rocky Mountains. | |
| 29. | Undersurface with wrinkles or with broad and poorly developed false gills; typically growing in clusters; southeastern in distribution. | |
| 30. | Cap brown or brownish, at least in the center, when the mushroom is young. | 31 |
| 30. | Cap not brown or brownish in any stage of development. | 32 |
| 31. | Growing in pine-hardwood forests (usually near slash pine) in the Gulf Coast states; mature cap orange-yellow; surfaces not changing color with iron salts. | |
| 31. | Growing under hardwoods from Missouri to the Great Lakes and the Appalachian Mountains; mature cap brownish yellow or yellow; surfaces reddish with iron salts. | |
| 32. | Cap and stem peach colored; false gills pale salmon; found in mixed woods, especially under oak or hemlock; distribution eastern. | |
| 32. | Peach shades absent; ecology and distribution variable. | 33 |
| 33. | Mature cap small (.5-3 cm across), with a fragile and waxy texture; stem becoming hollow. | |
| 33. | Mature cap variously sized but usually larger than above, not fragile or waxy; stem fleshy. | |
Sources for Craterellus and Cantharellus
Arora, D. (1986). Mushrooms demystified: A comprehensive guide to the fleshy fungi. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 959 pp.
Bigelow, H. E. (1978). "Cantharelloid fungi of New England and adjacent areas." Mycologia 70: 707-756.
Corner, E. J. H. (1966). A monograph of cantharelloid fungi. Oxford: Oxford UP. 255 pp.
Dahlman, M. et al. (2000). Molecular systematics of Craterellus: Cladistic analysis of nuclear LSU rDNA sequence data. Mycological Research 104: 388-394.
Danell, E. (1994). Cantharellus cibarius: Mycorrhiza formation and ecology. Ph. D. thesis. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis: Comprehensive summaries of Uppsala dissertations from the Faculty of Science and Technology 35. 75 pp.
Available online: http://www-mykopat.slu.se/Newwebsite/mycorrhiza/kantarellfiler/texter/thes.phtml
Dunham, S. M. et al. (2003). Analysis of nrDNA sequences and microsatellite allele frequencies reveals a cryptic chanterelle species Cantharellus cascadensis sp. nov. from the American Pacific Northwest. Mycological Research 107: 1163-1177.
Feibelman, T. P. et al. (1996). Cantharellus tabernensis: A new species from the southeastern United States. Mycologia 88: 295-301.
Feibelman, T. P. et al. (1997). Phylogenetic relationships within the Cantharellaceae inferred from sequence analysis of the nuclear large subunit rDNA. Mycological Research 101: 1423-1430.
Giachini, A. J. (2004). Systematics, phylogeny, and ecology of Gomphus sensu lato. Doctoral dissertation, Oregon State University. Available online here.
Gulf Coast States Mycological Society (2001) Some species of Cantharellus and Craterellus of the Gulf Coastal region. Retrieved from the Gulf Coast Mycological Society Web site February 15, 2006: http://mywebpage.netscape.com/GSMYCO/FEATUREDMUSHROOM.htm
Persson, O. (1997). The chanterelle book. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. 120 pp.
Petersen, R. H. (1969). Notes on cantharelloid fungi. II. Some new taxa, and notes on Pseudocraterellus. Persoonia 5: 211-223.
Petersen, R. H. (1975). Notes on cantharelloid fungi. VI. New species of Craterellus and infrageneric rearrangement. Ceska Mycologie 29: 199-204.
Petersen, R. H. (1979). Notes on cantharelloid fungi. IX. Illustrations of newly or poorly understood taxa. Nova Hedwigia 31: 1-23.
Pilz, D., L. Norvell, E. Dannell & R. Molina. (2003). Ecology and management of commercially harvested chanterelle mushrooms. Portland, Oregon: USDA General Technical Report. 83 pp. Available online at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/gtr576.pdf
Pine, E. M. et al. (1999). Phylogenetic relationships of cantharelloid and clavarioid Homobasidiomycetes based on mitochondrial and nuclear rDNA sequences. Mycologia 91: 944-963.
Redhead, S. A., et al. (1997). Cantharellus formosus and the Pacific Golden Chanterelle harvest in western North America. Mycotaxon 65: 285-322.
Smith, A. H. (1968). The Cantharellaceae of Michigan. Michigan Botanist 7: 143-183.
Smith, A. H. & Morse, E. E. (1947). The genus Cantharellus in the western United States. Mycologia 39: 497-534.
Smith, A. H. (1968). The Cantharellaceae of Michigan. Michigan Botanist 7: 143-183.
Smith, A. H., Smith, H. V. & Weber, N. S. (1981). How to know the non-gilled mushrooms. Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown. 324 pp.
Thiers, H. D. (1985). The Agaricales of California. 2. Cantharellaceae. Eureka, CA: Mad River Press. 34 pp.
Cite This Page As:
Kuo, M. (2006, February). Chanterelles and trumpets: Cantharellus and Craterellus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/cantharellaceae.html
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