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Hydnellum odorous (Hydnellum suaveolens) belongs to the Banker family and the genus Gidnellum. Classified in 1879 by Peter Karsten, the founder of mycology in Finland. Its other names:
- fragrant blackberry, from 1772;
- chicken hedgehog, from 1815;
- calodon suaveolens, с 1881 г;
- Phaeodon suaveolens, from 1888;
- northern blackberry, since 1902;
- hydnellum rickeri, с 1913 г;
- sarcodon gravis, since 1939
What does Hydnellum odorous look like?
Only the fruiting bodies that have appeared have a conical shape in the form of a thickened hat on a thin stem. Uneven, can be both rounded and angular, almost square in section or shapeless. The apex is rounded-convex, with wavy irregularities, depressions and tubercles. After it becomes flat, disc-shaped with a depression in the center, and then cup-shaped, with raised edges. The diameter varies from 3-5 cm to 10-16 cm in adulthood.
The surface is velvety-pubescent, matte. The color of young mushrooms is snow-white, then changes to dirty grayish with brown-brown or beige spots in the recesses. In adult specimens, the central part has a coffee-milk, beige-brown, brown-red color, and it has a white-gray border around the edges.
The flesh is tough, fibrous, colored in layers, from a darker, black-blue stem to a grayish-blue top, with a very pronounced smell of anise or almonds.
The leg is pyramidal in shape, uneven, fibrous-hard. Color blue-brown. Height from 1 to 5 cm, diameter from 2 to 9 cm. The surface is velvety, covered with soft fluff, when pressed, it changes its color to a darker one. The hymenophore is needle-shaped and looks like thickets of marine polyps. Spines are often arranged, up to 0,5 cm long, white or grayish, with age ocher-beige, brown. Spore powder is brown.
The flesh on the cut has a rich color from grayish-blue to dirty blue.
False doubles
Gidnellum odoriferous can be confused with members of its own species, especially at a young age.
Hydnellum caeruleum. Inedible. Its flesh is bluish-gray. You can distinguish it by the bright orange leg of young mushrooms.
This species is distinguished by the pale blue color of the cap surface in mature specimens.
Gidnellum Peck. Inedible (some sources claim to be poisonous). It is distinguished by drops of blood-red juice over the entire surface of the fruiting body. Able to feed on the bodies of insects trapped in sticky sap.
Drops of juice look like cranberry jam on whipped cream, but you should not try them
Where does Hydnellum odorous grow?
Gidnellum odorous is very rare. At the same time, its habitat is very wide: the entire territory of Eurasia, North America. Prefers spruce and pine forests, as well as mixed, coniferous-deciduous. It grows in the mountains, next to pines and cedars, on sandy and stony soils. The mushroom picker begins to bear fruit at the end of summer, growth continues until frost in October-November.
If there is no symbiont plant, then these fruiting bodies live like saprotrophs.
With age, a bizarre network of dents can form on the surface of the cap, forming strange patterns.
Is it possible to eat odorous hydnellum
Gidnellum odorous is classified as an inedible mushroom due to its hard, bitter pulp and low nutritional value. No toxic substances were found in its composition.
Conclusion
Gidnellum odorous is an interesting mushroom from the genus Gidnellum and the Banker family. It is extremely rare in coniferous lowland and mountain forests, mainly on sandy soils. Forming a symbiosis with trees, it supplies them with the minerals necessary for development. You can meet him in Europe, Our Country, Asia, America, in the fall. Inedible, not poisonous. Has similar doppelgangers.
