A parasitic ascomycete that coats white milk-caps and brittlegills, mainly Russula brevipes and the Lactarius piperatus group, with a hard, pimpled, bright orange-red layer and twists them into contorted shapes. The infected host, sold as the lobster mushroom, is a popular foraged edible and is marketed commercially. Infection changes the host's chemistry and replaces most of its DNA, starting at the margins.
Edible and widely eaten when firm and fresh. Because the host is unidentifiable, guides warn of a theoretical risk from a toxic host, though no poisonings are recorded. Discard soft, rotting or white-, pink- or yellow-moulded specimens. Turbinellus floccosus has a similar colour but a fine-wrinkled underside, not orange ridges.
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Habitat
Parasitic on Russula and Lactarius/Lactifluus fruit bodies, especially Russula brevipes, Lactarius deceptivus and the Lactarius piperatus group, in hardwood and conifer forests; especially common under ponderosa pine in the American Southwest and Pacific Northwest. Fruits in summer and fall, or over winter in warm climates.
Distribution
Described from North Carolina; widespread in North America, including Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Characteristics
Infected fruit body: host shape distorted, gills reduced to blunt, wavy ridges; surface hard, pimply, bright orange to orange-red, darkening to purplish red with age. Flesh: white and firm inside. KOH: orange surface turns dark purple at once. Perithecia: reddish brown to nearly black, visible to the eye. Spores: 30-40 x 5-7 um, fusiform, warty, one-septate, with apiculi about 5 um long. Asci: 200-275 x 6-10 um, 8-spored.
