Hare mushroom (Gyroporus castaneus) photo and description

Hare mushroom (Gyroporus castaneus)

Systematics:
  • Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
  • Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
  • Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
  • Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
  • Order: Boletales
  • Family: Gyroporaceae (Gyropore)
  • Genus: Gyroporus (Gyroporus)
  • Species: Gyroporus castaneus (Hare mushroom)
    Other names for the mushroom:

  • Gyroporus chestnut
  • Chestnut mushroom
  • Chestnut tree

Other names:

  • Chestnut mushroom
  • Chestnut tree
  • Hare mushroom

Hare mushroom (Gyroporus castaneus)

Cap: Rusty-brown, red-brown or chestnut-brown, convex in young chestnut mushrooms, flat or cushion-shaped at maturity, 40-110 mm in diameter. The surface of the chestnut gyroporus cap is velvety or slightly fluffy at first, later it is bare. In dry weather, it often cracks. The tubules are initially white, yellow by maturity, not blue at the cut, at the beginning adherent at the stem, later free, up to 8 mm long. The pores are small, rounded, at first white, then yellow, when pressed, brown spots remain on them.

Stem: Central or eccentric, irregularly cylindrical or clavate, flattened, glabrous, dry, reddish-brown, 35-80 mm high and 8-30 mm thick. Solid inside, later with cotton filling, hollow to maturity or with chambers.

Flesh: White, does not change color on cut. Initially hard, fleshy, fragile with age, taste and smell inexpressive.

Spore Powder: Pale yellow.

Spores: 7-10 x 4-6 microns, ellipsoidal, smooth, colorless or with a delicate yellowish tinge.

Growth:

Chestnut mushroom grows from July to November in deciduous and coniferous forests. It grows most often on sandy soil in warm, dry areas. Fruit bodies grow singly, scattered.

Use:

A little-known edible mushroom, but its taste cannot be compared with blue gyroporus. Acquires a bitter taste during cooking. When dried, the bitterness disappears. Therefore, the chestnut tree is mainly suitable for drying.

Similarity: It has no resemblance to poisonous mushrooms.