Craterellus tubaeformis

Craterellus tubaeformis (formerly Cantharellus tubaeformis) is an edible fungus, also known as yellowfoot, winter mushroom, or funnel chanterelle. It was reclassified from Cantharellus, which has been supported by molecular phylogenetics.

C. tubaeformis is a yellowish-brown and trumpet-shaped mushroom found in great numbers late in the mushroom season, thus earning the common name winter mushroom. The cap is convex and sometimes hollow down the middle. The gills are widely separated, and of lighter color than the cap.

The species grows in temperate and cold parts of Northern America and Europe. It is mycorrhizal, forming symbiotic associations with plants. It is an excellent food mushroom, especially fried or in soups.

Taxonomy
Molecular phylogenetics has shown that C. tubaeformis deserves its reclassification from Cantharellus to Craterellus. Additionally, it appears that there are two distinct genetic populations that have traditionally been called tubaeformis: one in Europe and eastern North America, and another in western North America. If these two groups are defined as separate species, the "eastern" yellowfoot would retain the scientific epithet tubaeformis due to the origin of the type specimens in Sweden.

Description
The mushroom is mostly yellow with a grayish-brown cap. The cap is 1–4 cm wide, generally flat with a depressed center, funnel-shaped, waxy, with a wavy margin, and mild odor and taste. The gills are shallow, decurrent, forked, and pale. The hollow stalk is 2–12 cm tall and 1 cm or less wide. It has a very distinctive smokey, peppery taste when raw.

The spores are whitish, elliptical, and smooth. The spore print is light orangish-pink.

It usually fruits later than other mushrooms, sometimes near Hydnum repandum. It usually grows in large groups.

Similar species
It is smaller than Cantharellus cibarius (the golden chanterelle) and has a dark brown cap with paler gills and a hollow yellow stem. C. tubaeformis tastes stronger but less fruity than the golden chanterelle.

The edible Craterellus lutescens differs in colour, and is found only in very wet places. Craterellus odoratus is bright yellow with a seamless cap and stem. Also similar is Cantharellus californicus.

Distribution and habitat
It grows in temperate and cold parts of Northern America (near both coasts) and Europe, including Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and the British Isles, as well as in the Himalayas in Asia, including Assam, in the central parts of the Indian subcontinent, and in Thailand.

Growing in large groups, it is most common in forests with a large amount of well-rotted coarse woody debris, growing on moss or rotten wood, and in Northern America mostly in conifer bogs. In the Pacific Northwest, it can be found from November to January.

Ecology
The species is mycorrhizal (forming symbiotic associations with plants), providing an obstacle to its cultivation.

The western North American C. tubaeformis has been shown to make ectomycorrhizal relationships with western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).

Uses
Though small, the mushroom is choice. It can be eaten with meat, in soups, pasta, and other dishes. It can easily be dried for preservation.