Home / Chanterelles & allies / TM0158
Chanterelles under birch
Cantharellus sp. Genus
Angles captured. Six field frames including one held up to show the underside, plus seven of the collected fruitbodies indoors.
Morphology
Cap 3–6 cm, egg-yolk to apricot-yellow, vase-shaped with a wavy inrolled margin. The underside carries blunt forking ridges running down the stem, not true gills — clearly shown in the indoor frames. Flesh white and solid throughout, tearing in fibres.
Habitat & substrate
Litter beneath birch. The stand was photographed deliberately to record the association.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
False gills rather than blades, solid white flesh, and the vase shape are the chanterelle characters. The dangerous look-alike is the jack-o'-lantern, which has true crowded gills, grows in clusters on wood, and is orange throughout rather than white inside — none of which fits here.
To confirm this identification
Species-level determination. The North American chanterelles have been split considerably and the field characters overlap.
Notes
Prints were attempted and came out very pale, which is expected for the genus. The birch association was photographed on purpose — chanterelles are mycorrhizal and the host tree is part of the record.
Found at Coldbrook Rd area, Hubbardston, MA on Friday, 14 August 2026 at 11:32. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
