Edible, therapeutic and toxic mushrooms
5
LOBSTER MUSHROOM
Hypomyces lactifluorum
Frequency
Plentiful
Habitat
The Lobster Mushroom is found in sandy soil, often on lower slopes in the company of pines. Alders that enrich the soil with nitrogen also contribute favourably. When a colony of Short-stemmed Russula is discovered without this parasitic fungus, one can append pieces of Lobster Mushroom to the Russula fruit bodies, push them slightly into the ground and ensure that the spores of the Lobster Mushrooms are in contact with the stems of the Russula. There’s a good chance a new colony will emerge. In the second year, one or two Lobster Mushrooms will be harvested, but quantities will increase with time.
Fruit body
Orange yellow, orange to red. The fruitbodies have a multitude of forms, different from each other.
Hymenium surface
White spores appear on the outer surface of the fruitbody.
Stalk
White, yellow or orange color.
Flesh
White, firm and very tick.
Unfit for human consumption
Fruitbodies whose flesh has become gray or soft are unfit for consumption. It is the same for fruitbodies whose outer surface has become dark red or covered with bacteria or molds.
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Lobster Mushrooms are rarely parasitized by insects if the Short-stemmed Russula were not infested before. Slugs may come to dig cavities by burrowing in from the exterior, but these cavities quickly regain the orange colour of the fruit bodies and often go unnoticed.
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