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Honey mushrooms are very popular fruiting bodies among a large number of mushroom pickers. Most often they grow in large groups on the same tree or stump. Even the name “honey mushroom” itself suggests the idea of a mushroom growing on a stump. Indeed, almost all species of honey mushrooms like to settle on old rotten stumps, as well as on fallen trees, large fallen branches and diseased trees and shrubs. Sometimes these fruiting bodies settle on living plants, leading them to death. There are exceptions – meadow mushrooms, which choose ravines, pastures, alder forests with high humidity, fields, forest glades and path edges as their habitat.
Why honey mushrooms become dark?
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The most common and famous, many call the autumn honey agarics. Synonyms are often used for it: spruce, dark, hard spruce. The dark honey agaric is able to spread over large areas of the forest. They grow not only in forests with deciduous trees, but also in spruce forests and pine forests. Often, dark spruce honey agaric is found next to shrubs on forest edges. These fruiting bodies grow throughout Our Country, even in the Northern Hemisphere and in the subtropical region.
Spruce mushrooms are considered edible and the most recognizable of the other species, due to the dark color of the hats. These mushrooms, like autumn mushrooms, grow on old and dying trees, on the trunks and roots of fallen trees, on rotten stumps of pines and spruces.
Spruce honey agaric mushroom is similar to other autumn representatives, but slightly different in color. He has a thin hat of a dark, almost brown color. The cylindrical leg of the mushroom is covered with a white-brown skirt ring. The season for collecting these mushrooms begins in mid-August and continues until October, and sometimes, with good warm weather, until mid-November. Although the value of this edible mushroom is low, since it has a bitter taste, its nutritional properties are not inferior to autumn types of mushrooms.
Stumps and trees on which dark-colored mushrooms grow are riddled with mycelium that glows in the dark. If you are not afraid and come to the forest, you can see those luminous places where mushrooms grow.
All types of mushrooms are parasitic mushrooms that settle even on living trees, killing them in 3-4 years. These fruiting bodies grow not only in deciduous and mixed forests. They can be found on coniferous tree species: pines and spruces. That is why the shade of the mushrooms changes, and we understand why the mushrooms become dark. The fungus creeps under the bark of the tree, killing the cambium between the bark and the wood of the tree. The bitterness of pine species passes into fruiting bodies, and dark wood gives spruce mushrooms its color.
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What dark-colored autumn spruce mushrooms and their mycelium look like
We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the description and photos of spruce mushrooms.
Latin name: Armillary solidipes;
Sort by: mushroom mushroom autumn;
Kingdom: mushrooms;
Family: physalacrye;
Class: agaric;
Synonyms: honey agaric dark, spruce, autumn spruce, ground.
Hat: diameter from 4 to 10 cm, resembles a hemispherical shape, convex, brown in color, without a yellow tint. The cap has large scales of dark brown color. The scales are clearly visible against the light background of the cap. With the growth of the fungus, the cap from the convex becomes flat.
Records: white, becoming mottled with a reddish tint with age.
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Pulp: loose, with a white or slightly yellowish tint, odorless.
Leg: height from 5 to 10 cm, thickness 1-2,5 cm, cylindrical in shape, with a slight thickening at the base. To the touch, the leg seems dry, has a brown tint from below. The ring around the stem is well-defined, pronounced white. On the underside of the ring along the edge of the film, brown flakes are clearly visible.
Similarities: dark spruce agaric is considered edible and the most recognizable species of honey mushrooms. It strongly resembles the edible autumn mushroom growing at the same time.
Spread: grows throughout Our Country, except for the Far North. The harvest season starts in July and ends in mid-October. Depending on the climatic conditions of a particular territory, it can grow at the end of October and even at the beginning of November. It grows in small families, prefers coniferous trees and fallen trees, as well as stumps. Sometimes found on deciduous trees, as well as near shrubs.
A photo visualizing edible spruce mushrooms helps mushroom pickers to better see the differences between the fungus and false species.
The autumn spruce honey agaric is sometimes called the ground one, as it often grows in mixed forests with a predominance of decaying wood. This species settles in colonies near spruce or pine rotten stumps, as well as on dead tree trunks. As already noted, in terms of nutritional value it is not inferior to autumn mushrooms, although it has a bitter taste. To get rid of this taste, dark spruce mushrooms are pre-heated: boiled in salted water 2 times for 20 minutes, each time using new water.
We offer you to look at a few more photos of dark edible mushrooms, which will help mushroom pickers to consider them from different angles:
It must be said that the swollen false honeycomb is very similar to the dark one. It grows in the same forests and prefers the same tree species. In this case, you should arm yourself with detailed information that will help you recognize the mentioned edible species among the false ones. Thus, knowing what edible spruce mushrooms look like, you will protect your health and the health of your loved ones.
Mushroom mushroom dark forms black mycelial strands under the bark of a tree, which are clearly visible even to the naked eye. The spores of these fruiting bodies are elliptical, smooth and colorless. The most significant is the fact that dark spruce mushrooms grow only in the lower part of dead trees, sometimes they are found on living trunks. Stumps are chosen mainly by conifers, most often pine. Check out another photo of spruce mushrooms, which clearly illustrates their appearance:
It is worth saying that the dark honey agaric in coniferous forests can capture a large territory, especially if there are a lot of damp deadwood. For example, in the coniferous forests of Switzerland, a dark mushroom mycelium was found with an area of u35bu1babout 3 hectares. Although these fruiting bodies grow in colonies from August to November, large harvests of dark mushrooms are rare – 4 time in XNUMX-XNUMX years.
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How to distinguish spruce mushrooms from mushrooms that look like toadstools (with photo)
Experienced mushroom pickers, knowing what spruce mushrooms look like, will never confuse them with false red-brick-colored mushrooms. This inedible fungus grows on the same stumps, but has a later fruiting and bitter flesh. If you have recently become a fan of “quiet hunting”, try to go into the forest several times with experienced mushroom pickers. Thus, you can learn how to distinguish spruce mushrooms not only from the photo:
Sometimes mushroom pickers note that in the forest you can find spruce honey agaric, similar to a toadstool. However, here we want to say that there are significant differences between these mushrooms. For example, the main difference is the presence on edible mushrooms of a “skirt” made of film that frames the leg. Poisonous mushrooms do not have such a ring-skirt. If you met a toadstool, then we note that she also has such a ring. However, the unpleasant smell of this mushroom and the appearance of the cap without scales specifically indicate that this is a poisonous mushroom. You can compare photos of edible spruce mushrooms and similar toadstools to know the differences:
In addition, novice mushroom pickers should be alerted by the Volvo cup. It is located at the bottom of the leg right next to the ground. When a young mushroom appears, this Volvo calyx breaks into 3-4 blades and it seems that the toadstool leg is inserted into it. The color of the Volvo ranges from yellowish to green, and it also has an unpleasant odor.
I would like to note that dark spruce mushrooms, like autumn ones, are considered one of the most popular. They grow in groups, so more than one basket can be collected from one stump or tree trunk. Although mushrooms are called a low-calorie product, they contain many useful trace elements: potassium, iron, zinc, phosphorus, as well as vitamins C, PP, B and E, proteins, natural sugars and amino acids.
A wide variety of dishes can be prepared from dark-colored mushrooms. They can be pickled, fried, stewed, salted and sour. However, remember that these fruiting bodies must first be boiled to remove bitterness.