In October, in the Moscow region, mushrooms can be collected in almost the same volume as in August-September. Even the first autumn frosts do not prevent lovers of “quiet hunting” from the forest to bring whole baskets of late autumn mushrooms, talkers and white cobwebs. Experienced mushroom pickers also pick such rare mushrooms as hygrophores, panelluses and annular caps in October.
October landscapes impress with an unusual combination of green, yellow, orange and golden colors. In October, the types of growing mushrooms are largely dependent on the weather. In mild and warm weather, porcini mushrooms can grow. In October they are especially bright. In the event of frosts, October mushrooms can become discolored, discolored or their bright colors fade. This is especially true for rows.
So, you got the answer to the question of whether there are mushrooms in the forest in October. And what species can be collected during this period and how do they look?
Edible mushrooms that grow in October
Fragrant hygrophorus (Hygrophorus agathosmus).
Habitats: damp and mossy places in coniferous forests, growing in groups.
Season: June – October.
The hat has a diameter of 3-7 cm, first bell-shaped, then convex and flat. In the middle of the cap, in most cases there is a flat tubercle, but there are specimens with a concave center. A distinctive feature of the species is the light gray or ash color of the dry cap with a slight darker tint in the center, as well as light plates descending to the leg.
The leg is long, 4-8 cm tall, 3-12 mm thick, thin, smooth, whitish-gray or cream, with a mealy surface.
Pulp: whitish, soft, with a fragrant almond smell and a sweetish taste.
The plates are rare, adherent, whitish descending down the stem.
Variability. The cap color varies from light gray to ashy, sometimes with a beige tint, with a darker tint in the center.
Similar types. This mushroom, which grows in October, is similar in shape to the yellowish-white hygrophorus (Hygrophorus eburneus), which is distinguished by a yellowish cap.
Cooking methods: fried, boiled, canned.
Edible, 4th category.
Hygrocybe red (Hygrocybe coccinea).
Small colorful hygrocybe mushrooms resemble colored circus caps. You can admire them, but it is not recommended to collect them.
Habitats: grass and moss in mixed and coniferous forests, growing either in groups or singly.
Season: August – October.
The cap has a diameter of 1-4 cm, at first hemispherical, later bell-shaped and convex prostrate. A distinctive feature of the species is a grainy bright red or crimson hat with yellow-orange zones.
Leg 2-8 cm high, 3-9 mm thick. The upper part of the stem is reddish, the lower part is yellowish or yellow-orange.
Records of medium frequency, at first cream, later yellow-orange or light red.
The pulp is fibrous, at first creamy, later light yellow, brittle, odorless.
Variability. The color of the cap varies from bright red to crimson with yellow spots.
Similar types. The beautiful hygrocybe is similar in color to the cinnabar-red hygrocybe (Hygrocybe miniata), which is not distinguished by a granular, but by a smooth-fibrous hat.
Conditionally edible.
Bent talker (Clitocybe geotropa).
Bent talkers are one of the few edible types of talkers. The authors tried dishes from them. They are juicy and tasty. However, we do not recommend collecting these mushrooms due to the large number of similar inedible hallucinogenic species. They grow on the edges of forests with thick forest litter.
Habitats: mixed and coniferous forests, on the edges, in moss, in shrubs, grow in groups or singly.
Season: July – October.
The cap is 8-10 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 12 cm, at first convex with a small flat tubercle, later depressed funnel-shaped, in young specimens with a small tubercle in the middle. A distinctive feature of the species is the conical-funnel shape of the cap with an openwork upper part, which sometimes shines through in the sun, and with thin wavy, wrapped edges; the color of the cap is brownish, and in the center it is light brown, and along the edges it can be dark brown.
Leg 5-10 cm tall, sometimes up to 15 cm, 8-20 mm thick, of the same color with a hat or lighter, cylindrical, slightly widened at the base, fibrous, white-pubescent below, brownish at the base. The length of the stem is greater than the diameter of the cap.
The pulp is thick, dense, white, later brown, has a pungent odor.
The plates are frequent, descending along the stem, soft, white at first, later cream or yellowish.
Variability: the color of the cap is brownish, with age it may fade to fawn, sometimes with reddish spots.
Similar edible species. The talker, bent in shape, size and color, is similar to Clitocybe gibba, but differs by the presence of a different, fruity smell, and the brownish hat has a pinkish tint.
Similar poisonous species. The color of the bent govorushka is similar to poisonous Clitocybe inverse, which also has hanging edges, but does not have a funnel-shaped depression in the cap.
Cooking methods: mushrooms are tasty and fragrant in taste, they are fried, boiled, marinated, with preliminary boiling for about 20 minutes, but there are similar poisonous species.
Edible, 3rd (young) and 4th category.
Tuberous white web, or bulbous (Leucocortinarius bulbiger).
White webs differ from all other cobwebs in their unusually beautiful appearance. They look like fabulous Santa Clauses on one leg. White spots on a pinkish hat decorate their appearance. Small groups of these mushrooms can be found on the fringes of spruce and mixed forests.
Habitats: pine and mixed with birch forests, on the forest floor, grow in groups or singly. A rare species, listed in the regional Red Books, status – 3R.
Season: August – October.
The cap has a diameter of 3-10 cm, at first hemispherical, later convex-prostrate. A distinctive feature of the species is the unusual color of the cap: yellowish or pinkish-yellowish with white or cream spots, similar to strokes of paint, as well as a light leg with whitish uneven remains of the bedspread.
The stalk is 3-12 cm high, 6-15 mm thick, dense, even, tuberous, whitish or brownish, with flaky fibers on the surface.
The flesh is white, reddish under the skin of the cap, without much taste, with a mushroom smell.
The plates are wide, sparse, at first accreted and white, later notched-fixed and cream.
Variability. The color of the cap varies from pinkish-yellow to pinkish-beige.
Similar types. The tuberous white web is so characteristic and individual in the color of the cap that it has no similar species and can be easily identified.
Cooking methods: boiling, frying, salting, after preliminary boiling.
Edible, 4th category.
Ringed cap (Rozites caperatus).
Ringed caps, these beauties with a delicate golden-yellowish tint and a large ring on the leg are collected only by the elite. This is no coincidence, as they look like toadstools and fly agarics. It is enough for an experienced mushroom picker to look at the back of the cap, to see the plates of the same color as the cap, in order to distinguish them from poisonous species. Ringed caps are delicious, slightly sweet mushrooms. You can find them near the Christmas trees in a mixed forest, in bright places, on moist soils.
Habitats: deciduous and mixed forests, growing in small groups.
Season: September October.
The cap has a diameter of 5-12 cm, at first hemispherical, later convex-prostrate. A distinctive feature of the species is a furrowed or wrinkled yellow-brown hat of an umbrella-shaped shape with a tubercle in the form of a button in the middle, as well as a membranous light ring on the leg. The color of the cap is darker in the middle, and the edges are lighter. Young mushrooms have a light membranous coverlet on the bottom of the cap.
Leg 5-15 cm tall, 8-20 mm thick, smooth, even, the color of the cap or yellowish. There is a wide cream or whitish membranous ring at the top of the stem.
The pulp is light, fleshy, dense, fibrous.
The plates are adherent, rare, yellowish in color.
Variability. The color of the cap varies from straw yellow to tan to pinkish brown.
Similar types. The ringed cap is similar in color and shape to the yellow cobweb, or triumphant (Cortinarius triumphans), which is distinguished by the absence of a tubercle on the cap and the presence of not one ring, but several traces of the remains of the bedspread.
Cooking methods. Delicious mushrooms, soups are made from them, fried, canned.
Edible, 3rd and 4th categories.
Late panellus (Panellus serotinus).
Among the October mushrooms, late panelluses are distinguished. They are not afraid of small frosts and grow until winter. Most often you can see them on stumps and fallen half-rotten trunks with moss.
Season: September – December.
The cap has an overall size of 1-10 cm, sometimes up to 15 cm. A distinctive feature of the species is a velvety, in wet weather, oily oyster or ear-shaped form of the fruiting body with a lateral leg, first greenish-brown in color, later olive-yellow.
Leg eccentric, short, 0,5-2 cm, ocher-yellow with dark scales.
The flesh inside the cap is white-cream at first, and closer to the plates and the surface it is grayish-cream, gelatinized, with a slight delicate mushroom smell.
The plates are very frequent and thin, descending to the stem, at first white and light straw, later light brown and brown.
Variability. The color of the cap varies greatly, first greenish-brown, later olive-yellow, grey-green, and finally lilac.
Similar types. Edible panellus late in shape similar to inedible Panellus stypticus (Panellus stypticus), which is distinguished by a strongly astringent taste and a yellow-brown color of the cap.
Edibility: delicious, soft, tender, fatty mushrooms, they can be fried, boiled soups, canned.
Edible, 3rd category (early) and 4th category.
Other Edible Mushrooms Growing in October
Also in the forests of the Moscow region in October, the following mushrooms are harvested:
- autumn mushrooms
- Ryadovki
- yellow hedgehogs
- Raincoats
- cobwebs
- Black and aspen milk mushrooms
- yellow-skinned champignons
- Non-caustic and neutral lactic
- Mohoviki
- Chanterelles
- Food and yellow russula
- Yellow-brown and common boletus.
Inedible October mushrooms
Psatyrella velvety (Psathyrella velutina).
Small psatirella mushrooms grow in large groups and are often invisible in the autumn forest, covered with fallen leaves. All of them are inedible. They grow at the foot of stumps and trees.
Habitats: dead wood and stumps of deciduous trees, growing in groups.
Season: August – October.
The cap has a diameter of 4-10 cm, at first hemispherical, later convex-prostrate. A distinctive feature of the species is an buffy, yellow-brown, pink-buffy, felt-scaly hat with a tubercle, darker – brown in the middle and fibrous pubescence along the edge.
The leg is smooth, white, fibrous-scaly, hollow, with a ring or a trace of the ring.
The flesh is pale brown, thin, crumbly, with a spicy smell.
The plates are frequent, brownish in youth, later almost black with a brown tint and with light drops of liquid, curved, notched-grown.
Variability. The color of the cap can vary from reddish to buff.
Similar types. Psatirella velvety is similar in shape to Psathyrella piluliformis, which has a dark gray-brown cap and does not have a fringed bedspread around the edge.
Inedible.
Psatyrella dwarf (Psathyrella pygmaea).
Habitats: deciduous and mixed forests, on rotten hardwood, grows in large groups.
Season: June – October.
The cap has a diameter of 5-20 mm, first bell-shaped, then convex. A distinctive feature of the species is a pale beige or light brown hat with a blunt tubercle and a ribbed, lighter and whitish edge. The surface of the cap is smooth, matte.
The stem is 1-3 cm high and 1-3 mm thick, cylindrical, often curved-flattened, hollow inside, powdery, white-cream or cream, pubescent at the base.
The pulp is brittle, whitish, without a characteristic smell and taste.
The plates are frequent, adherent, whitish at first, later cream or beige, lighter towards the edge of the cap, later brownish-brown.
Variability. The color of the cap can vary greatly from pale beige to light brown and light straw to reddish brown and ocher brown.
Similar types. Psatirella dwarf is similar in size to a small Psathyrella piluliformis, which is distinguished by a convex and round shape of the cap and a white, smooth leg, hollow inside.
Inedible.
Mycena inclined (Mycena inclinata).
Mycenae growing on stumps can occupy large areas in October until the first frost, after which they become translucent and discolored.
Habitats: stumps and rotting trunks in mixed and deciduous forests, growing in large groups.
Season: July – November.
The cap has a diameter of 1-2,5 cm, fragile, at first bell-shaped with a sharp crown, later ovoid or bell-shaped with a round crown. A distinctive feature of the species is the light hazel or cream color of the cap with a small brownish tubercle. The surface of the cap is covered with fine radial grooves, and the edges are uneven and often even serrated.
The leg is long and thin, 3-8 cm high, 1-2 mm thick, cylindrical, smooth in the upper part, and covered with powdery coating below. The color of the stem is uniform: first cream, later light brown and brown.
The flesh is thin, white, has a strong smell of mustiness, and the taste is rancid and pungent.
The plates are rare and narrow, whitish or cream. With age, the plates at the ends of the cap acquire a brownish tint.
Variability: the color of the cap varies from light hazel and cream to yellowish. The leg is light at first. The plates are whitish or cream at first, later they become pinkish-lilac or yellowish.
Similar types. Mycenae inclined in shape and color are similar to thin cap mycenae (Mycena leptocephala), which are distinguished by the presence of the smell of chlorinated water in the pulp.
They are inedible because the musty smell does not soften even with prolonged boiling.
Mycena ash (Mycena cinerella).
Habitats: stumps and rotting trunks in mixed and deciduous forests, growing in large groups.
Season: July – November.
The cap has a diameter of 1-3 cm, fragile, at first bell-shaped with a sharp crown, later ovoid or bell-shaped with a round crown. In young specimens, the edge of the cap has teeth, in mature mushrooms it is smoothed. A distinctive feature of the species is a whitish bell-shaped cap with a darker apex. The surface of the cap has radial grooves at the locations of the bottom of the plates.
The leg is long and thin, 3-8 cm high, 1-3 mm thick, cylindrical, smooth in the upper part, and covered with powdery coating below. In young specimens, the leg is light, uniform, whitish; in mature specimens, the lower part of the leg has a brownish tint. The leg is hollow inside.
The pulp is thin, whitish, without a special smell.
The plates are rare and narrow, whitish or cream. With age, the plates at the ends of the cap acquire a brownish tint.
Variability: the color of the cap varies from whitish to ashen, cream, creamy yellowish.
Similar types. Ash mycena is similar in shape and color to milk mycena (Mycena galopus), which is distinguished by a darker brownish stem.
They are inedible because they are tasteless.
Collybia brownish (Collybia tenacella).
Habitats: coniferous forests, on the forest floor, next to cones, grow in groups.
Season: August – October.
The cap has a diameter of 1-3 cm, at first convex, later flat. A distinctive feature of the species is an almost flat, thin and fragile brownish hat with a small depression in the center and around it with a small roller of a darker shade. There may be no recess, but only a small tubercle.
The stem is thin and long, 2-8 cm high and 2-5 mm thick, smooth, cylindrical, the same color as the cap, or slightly lighter. The base of the stem ends with a long root appendage with a velvety surface.
The pulp is thin, odorless, bitter in taste.
The plates are whitish and cream at first, frequent and thin, adherent to the stem, later yellowish.
Variability: the color of the cap varies from light brown and hazel to dark brown.
Similar types. Collybia brown can be confused with the edible meadow rot (Marasmius oreades), which is similar in color and size, but has a bell-shaped hat with a central bulge, in addition, it smells like hay.
Inedible because of the bitter taste, which is not completely eliminated even with prolonged cooking.
Macrocystidia cucumber (Macrocystidia cucumis).
The small fungus macrocystidia resembles in shape a small collibia or a round mycena. These colorfully colored mushrooms can often be found on tree stumps in September.
Habitats: near gardens, pastures, in gardens and parks, on manured lands, grow in groups.
Season: July – October.
The cap has a size of 3 to 5 cm, first hemispherical, then convex or bell-shaped, and then flat. A distinctive feature of the species is a brown-red or brown-brown velvety hat with a tubercle and light yellow edges.
The leg has a height of 3-7 cm, a thickness of 2-4 mm, velvety, light brown above, dark brown or black-brown below.
The pulp is dense, whitish-cream, with a slight smell.
Records of medium frequency, notched-attached, at first light cream, later cream and brownish.
Inedible.
Collybia shod (Collybia peronatus).
Collibia grow mainly on the roots of trees and on the forest floor. October collibia are among the fallen leaves and are hardly noticeable.
Habitats: mixed and coniferous forests, on the forest floor, in moss, on rotting wood, stumps and roots, grow in groups.
Season: June – October.
The cap has a diameter of 3-6 cm, at first hemispherical or convex with a curved edge, then convex-prostrate with a small flat tubercle, dull in dry weather. The first distinguishing feature of the species is the creamy-pink color of the cap, with a darker pinkish-red zone in the middle and a brownish edge with fine fringes or serrations.
Leg 3-7 cm high, 3-6 mm thick, cylindrical, widened near the base, hollow inside, of the same color with a hat or lighter, with a felt coating. The second distinctive feature of the species is the special structure of the legs. It contains two parts – the upper one is hollow light brown and the lower one is wider and darker brown, which represents, as it were, shoes for the foot. These parts may be separated by a thin light stripe, but it may not be.
The pulp is thin, dense, yellowish, without a special smell, but with a burning taste.
Records of medium frequency, slightly adherent or free, narrow, frequent, then reddish, pink-brown, yellow-brown with a lilac tint.
Variability: the color of the cap varies depending on the maturity of the mushroom, the month and the humidity of the season – gray-brown, pinkish-brown, pinkish-red with a darker, usually brown middle. The edges may be a little lighter and have a small fringe, but may be of a different, pinkish-brown color and also with a fringe similar to denticles.
Similar types. The view is very characteristic and easily distinguishable from others.
Inedible because of the pungent and burning taste.