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It can be quite difficult to distinguish false mushrooms from real mushrooms, but, nevertheless, the differences are quite obvious. To accurately determine which mushroom grows from the ground, you need to know what the doubles of mushrooms look like and what features they have.
Are there false mushrooms
A variety with the name “false camelina” does not exist in nature. However, real red mushrooms have edible and inedible counterparts, very similar in structure and color. It is they who are called false and are recommended to be carefully considered before putting them in the basket.
What mushrooms look like mushrooms
There are no frankly poisonous false mushrooms – all twins are conditionally edible or inedible due to poor taste. However, you need to know the differences between different mushrooms, since the processing methods for real and false mushrooms are very different, and if you cook the false look incorrectly, you can seriously get poisoned.
amber milky
The milker belongs to the Syroezhkov family and also bears the names of the roan milker, the inedible milkweed and the gray-pink milky. A false species usually grows in mixed and coniferous forest plantations next to moss, often found under spruce and pine trees, in wetlands.
Most of the amber milkers can be seen in August and September, although they appear in the forests as early as July.
pink wave
Another twin from the Syroezhkov family, which has its own differences, is a pink wave that grows in mixed forests and birch groves. It is usually found in wet areas, actively fructifies in August and September.
papillary milky
The mushroom, also called the large mushroom, also belongs to the Syroezhkov family. Unlike previous false varieties, it prefers sandy light soils and is most often found in the northern regions near birches. The peak growth of mushrooms, similar to mushrooms, traditionally falls on August and early September.
What do false mushrooms look like
To distinguish inedible or poisonous mushrooms, similar to mushrooms, you need to have a good idea of their external features. They have quite a few similar features, but there are also differences.
The appearance of the amber milky
The false mushroom has a pinkish-brown or grayish hat with a tubercle in the middle part. At a young age, the cap is prostrate and flat, as it grows older it takes the form of a funnel, and the edges of the cap are bent down. The skin is usually dry and glossy on the surface, but can become slippery on rainy days. The lower part of the cap is covered with frequent plates of a descending type, white, pinkish or beige in color.
The leg of the milky amber is the same color as the hat, but slightly lighter in the upper part. In height, the mushroom grows up to 9 cm, the diameter of the stem can be up to 2 cm. It is rather loose in structure, hollow from the inside. The mushroom on the cut has a light yellow fragile and friable pulp, the color does not change from contact with air, but releases watery juice.
The appearance of the pink wave
It is rather difficult to confuse a pink wave with a camelina, but sometimes the differences between adult mushrooms are minimal. Volnushka has a large dense hat up to 12 cm in diameter, convex in young species and flat in adults. There is a small depression in the center of the cap, the edges are turned inward and pubescent, and concentric circles diverge on the surface of the cap. The color of the mushroom is similar to the mushroom, but paler – the wave is usually light pink or grayish-pink in accordance with its name, and the surface of its cap is mucous. From below, the mushroom is covered with white or pinkish frequent plates descending along the leg.
In height, the wave usually rises up to 6 cm above the soil surface. Her leg is cylindrical and hard, in young fruiting bodies it is dense, and in adults it is hollow. On the leg, you can see small pits and fluff, the color is identical to the shade of the hat. The pulp is white, dense and juicy, does not change its color on the cut, releases white milky juice.
From the point of view of nutritional value, the pink wave is conditionally edible, it can be used for food, but only after a long processing. Therefore, it is dangerous not to notice the differences and confuse it with a completely edible mushroom that requires almost no processing; a hastily prepared wave can easily be poisoned.
Appearance of the papillary lactis
The false papillary milky is most similar to an orange mushroom in its structure. It also has a flat cap with a tubercle in the center, although the cap is concave in young mushrooms and straightens only as it matures. The cap can be up to 9 cm in diameter, dry and fibrous to the touch, and bluish-brown, gray-brown, slightly pinkish or even with a purple tint in color. Milky mushrooms are often called porcini mushrooms, similar to saffron mushrooms, because, depending on the conditions, they can be very light. The plates on the underside of young papillary lactifers are whitish, while in adults they are red, narrow and frequent, descending to the stalk.
The mushroom rises above the ground by an average of 7 cm in height, its leg is cylindrical and thin, up to 2 cm in diameter. In an adult lactic, the leg is hollow inside and smooth, in color at a young age it is light, but then acquires the shade of a hat.
If you cut the papillary milky, then its flesh will be dense, but brittle and uneven. On the cut, the false species releases a small amount of milky juice, both the pulp and the juice are white in color.
The mushroom belongs to the category of conditionally edible – it smells like coconut, and the taste is bitter and unpleasant. Therefore, before food use, it is soaked for a long time in salted water to improve taste, and is most often used in salting.
How to distinguish a ginger from a false ginger
The main similarity between true and false mushrooms lies in the structure of the cap and stem. True camelina, like poisonous twins, has a wide hat with a slight depression in the center and curved edges. Diverging circles can often be seen on the surface of the hat, because of this it is confused, for example, with a pink wave. The underside is also covered with thin plates, and the leg has a cylindrical shape.
Since there are many varieties of real orange mushroom, it is often difficult to distinguish a false camelina from a true one by color. The fungus may have an orange, brownish, gray-brown, brown, greenish or pinkish color, the color depends on the species, on the place of growth, on age.
However, there are quite enough differences in a real saffron milk cap:
- The main difference is the color of the milky juice. If you cut a real camelina, then its flesh will release a certain amount of orange or reddish liquid. In false twins, the juice is usually white. In addition, the milky juice of the camelina in the air quickly turns green or turns brown, but the juice of false twins does not change its shade.
- A similar difference applies to the pulp. When broken, the true species is usually orange or pinkish in color, and its flesh also quickly changes color on exposure to air, turning green or reddish depending on the species. This is not typical of false twins; after a while, their flesh on the cut can only turn slightly yellow.
- Another difference is that if you press on the plates of spruce, pine or red camelina from below, then a greenish spot will remain under your finger.
The difference between false and real camelina lies in the places of distribution. True species grow mainly in coniferous forests – upland trees form a symbiosis with pine trees, spruce trees are found under spruce trees. In birch forests and mixed plantings, they can be found less frequently, in contrast to false ones, which are widespread everywhere.
Conclusion
Distinguishing false saffron mushrooms from real, usable mushrooms is quite simple – the main differences are in the color of the milky juice and pulp. However, if there is the slightest doubt, it is better to refuse the mushroom and leave it in the forest.
