Home / Chanterelles & allies / TM0042
Orange lobed fungi in wintergreen
cf. Cantharellus Uncertain
Angles captured. Two frames looking down into the groundcover from slightly different angles.
Morphology
Two or three small fruitbodies, each 1.5–2.5 cm, deep egg-yolk to apricot orange, and squat, irregularly lobed and wavy-margined with no clearly defined stipe — much more like a small trumpet or folded fan than a capped mushroom. Surface smooth and matte. The undersurface is not visible in either frame.
Habitat & substrate
Emerging from leaf litter among Gaultheria (wintergreen) and woody debris on level ground, a short distance from the waxcap colony but not at the boulder.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
The lobed, stipeless, trumpet-like form and rich orange colour raise a young chanterelle (Cantharellus) or Craterellus. That would be a notable find. Small Hygrocybe buttons can look similar from above, which is why the underside matters so much.
To confirm this identification
Look underneath. Chanterelles have blunt, forking, decurrent ridges rather than true blade-like gills — once seen it is unmistakable. Also check for a faint apricot smell.
Notes
Corrected. Originally filed with the waxcap troop (TM0041). Growth form and substrate are both different, and if these are chanterelles they are the most interesting unresolved find in the volume.
Found at Elm St area, Leominster, MA on Thursday, 6 August 2026 at 10:55. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
