365 Urban Species. #203: Chicken Mushroom

[urbpan]

Photos by urbpan. Location: The Riverway, at the base of a red oak.

Urban species #203: Chicken mushroom Laetiporus cincinnatus

A word about the scientific nomenclature of this species. Currently, molecular identification techniques are causing a revolution in mycology. Mushrooms that are familiar among those who collect and eat them, are turning out to be complexes of species that have different ecologies. The chicken mushroom is one of these. Mycologist Tom Volk advocates using the name cincinnatus for those chicken mushrooms that have a white spore-bearing surface (as opposed to yellow) and grow from the base of the tree they are feeding on. The urban-ness of the species name is, of course, most appealing to me as well.

Chicken mushrooms are among the most sought-after of the edible mushrooms. They are named for their textural resemblance to chicken flesh when cooked (raw, like many mushrooms, they cause stomach upset). When I discover a chicken mushroom, I have to photograph it immediately, before some urban forager harvests it.


The white, spore bearing surface.


This is what the chicken mushroom looked like earlier in the week:

Comments

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

I don't get the thing where some mushroom hunters kick the mushrooms they don't approve of. David Arora said when he was finding muchrooms on Mount Fugi the Japanese mushroom hunters had kicked the king boletes and gathered the amanita muscarias (yes, they're edible, but only if you blanch them thoroughly and toss the water you blanched them in). Here, of course, people gather the king boletes and frequently kick the amanitas, which I think is mean-spirited, because the banana slugs like them.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's the mushroom hunters doing the kicking, it's more stupid kids.