I have loved mushrooms since childhood, and I have also been a programmer for a long time. Combining these two hobbies, I wrote this website. Previously, I had two other mushroom identification sites, which I sold. Only one of them remains accessible today. My goal with the current site is to create an easy-to-use search and identification platform that works great both in the field and at home. I hope it brings joy to others.
Bartha László
Species flashcards
Practice area: created for the 303-species Hungarian mushroom inspector requirement. It is not an official examination; requirements in other countries may differ.
Copper Spike
Chroogomphus rutilus
edible
- Habitat: coniferous
- Fruiting season: July – December
- Cap: flat umbonate smooth
- Stem: tapering
- Fertile layer: decurrent sparse thick smooth
Description
Cap: Convex, then flat, but pointed in the center, 5-10 cm large, thick-fleshed. Color copper-red, purplish-brownish-red, orange-red or yellowish-grayish-red. Its surface is slightly sticky or dry shiny.
Gills: Initially reddish-brown, then purplish-brown, finally brownish-black. On the young mushroom, a veil connects the cap margin to the stem and covers the gills. Spores blackish-brown, spindle-shaped.
Stem: Slender, spindle-like, mostly curved, 5-10 cm long, 0.5-2 cm thick, solid. Color roughly similar to the cap: yellow, reddish, purplish, yellow at the base, orange-yellow, in the middle mostly cross-spotted, striated.
Flesh: Orange-yellow, rust-red, purplish-red, bright yellow at the stem base. Insect damage in the paler flesh turns purple-red, strikingly discoloring.
Spore: Very dark smoky olive-black; 15-22 x 5.5 7 μm; large boletus-like spores.
Edibility: Taste mildly astringent, smell barely noticeable. Good edible mushroom. Suitable for consumption in many ways, but especially excellent for soup. Dries excellently and beautifully.
Occurrence: In coniferous forest soils, from late summer, but mainly in autumn, mostly found in groups. Common in some places, mostly in the same place as the slippery jack.
Confusion: Cannot be confused with any other mushroom. Its close relative, the brown spike, has no reddish tint, its cap skin is peelable, its flesh is white, and it grows mainly in higher mountains.
Note: rutilus means: red or reddish, which is an apt name for mushrooms with such a cap. The genus name chroogomphus comes from the Greek word ghompos, meaning - large wedge-shaped nail, or cork.
Species description: In 1774, Jacob Christian Schaeffer first described this mushroom and gave it the name Agaricus rutilus. It was transferred to the Chroogomphus genus in 1964 by the American mycologist Orson K. Miller, Jr., (1930-2006).
Taxonomy
- PhylumBasidiomycota
- ClassAgaricomycetes
- OrderBoletales
- FamilyGomphidiaceae
- GenusChroogomphus
- Species: rutilus
- Described by: (Schaeff.) O.K. Mill.
- Hungarian name: vöröses nyálkásgomba
- Lifestyle: mycorrhizal
- Edibility: edible
