Rough hedgehog (Sarcodon scabrosus) photo and description

Rough hedgehog (Sarcodon scabrosus)

It is believed that Rough Hedgehog may be quite widespread in Europe. The mushroom is easily recognizable by several characteristic features: the cap is brown to reddish-brown or even purplish-brown with scales pressed down in the center and diverging as it grows; the greenish stem is much darker towards the base; bitter taste.

Description:

Ecology: Rough ezhovik belongs to the group of species, mycorrhizal with coniferous and hardwood trees; grows alone or or in groups; summer and autumn.

Hat: 3-10 cm, rarely up to 15 cm in diameter; convex, plano-convex, often with an implicit depression in the center. Irregular shape. Dry. In young mushrooms, either hairs or scales are visible on the hat. With age, the scales become clearly visible, larger and pressed in the center, smaller and lagging behind – closer to the edge. The color of the cap is reddish-brown to purplish-brown. The edge of the cap can often be curved, even slightly wavy. The shape may resemble an epicycloid.

Hymenophore: descending “spines” (sometimes called “teeth”) 2-8 mm; pale brown in color, in young mushrooms with whitish tips, darken with age, become saturated brown.

Leg: 4-10 cm long and 1-2,5 cm thick. Dry, no ring. The base of the leg is often located deep underground, when picking the mushroom it is advisable to take out the entire leg: it will help to easily distinguish the rough hedgehog from the motley hedgehog. The fact is that the leg of the rough blackberry near the cap is smooth (when the “thorns” end) and rather light, pale pale brown. The farther from the cap, the darker the color of the stem, in addition to brown, green, blue-green and even bluish-black color appears at the very base of the stem.

Flesh: soft. The colors are different: almost white, whitish-pinkish in the hat; and in the stem gray to black or greenish, greenish-black at the bottom of the stem.

Smell: slight mealy or odorless.

Taste: bitter, sometimes not immediately apparent.

Spore powder: brown.

Similarity: Rough hedgehog can only be confused with similar types of hedgehogs. It is especially similar to the blackberry (Sarcodon Imbricatus), in which the flesh, although slightly bitter, but this bitterness completely disappears after boiling, and the blackberry is slightly larger than the blackberry rough.

Edibility: Unlike the blackberry, this mushroom is considered inedible due to its bitter taste.