Cantharellus minor

Small Chanterelle

A slender, egg-yolk yellow to orange chanterelle of eastern North American hardwood forests, much smaller and thinner-fleshed than the Cantharellus cibarius group. It has well-developed, distant false gills that run down a slender stem that is much longer than the cap is wide. It is mycorrhizal with oaks and other hardwoods and often grows in moss.

Species profile

Edibility: Not edible
Edibility is not well documented in the sources consulted, and the mushroom is too small and thin to be of culinary interest; not recommended. Separate it from toxic orange look-alikes: jack-o'-lanterns (Omphalotus, toxic) are larger, grow in clusters from wood and have true, sharp-edged gills; false chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) has true, repeatedly forked gills; small orange waxcaps (Hygrocybe) have true waxy gills.

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Characteristics

Cap: 5-20 mm across, convex becoming flat or shallowly depressed, egg-yolk yellow to orange-yellow or orange, bald, somewhat waxy, not perforated at the center. Underside: well-developed, distant, decurrent false gills, colored like the cap or paler. Stem: 10-40 mm long, 1-3 mm thick, slender, becoming hollow, colored like the cap or paler. Flesh: thin, yellowish to orangish. Odor: not distinctive or faintly sweet. Spore print: pale yellowish. Microscopic: spores ellipsoid, smooth, inamyloid, 8-11 x 5-7 µm.