Spring mushrooms: edible and inedible species
However, in this case, one should be very careful: at this time there are not so many edible mushrooms as in the fall, there is a great risk of bringing home poisonous fruiting bodies that are easily masked as edible species.
This article presents photos, names and descriptions of edible and inedible spring mushrooms that can be found in the forests near Moscow.
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Picking spring mushrooms in a forest near Moscow (with video)
Spring mushrooms in the villages are well known, but city and country residents know them poorly. During this period, you can find more delicious morels, oyster mushrooms and summer mushrooms. However, in the spring the first hallucinogenic and poisonous mushrooms appear, for example, ordinary stitches.
In early spring, when the snow had not yet completely melted and the first thawed areas appeared, autumn oyster mushrooms can be seen. They are called autumn because they appear in autumn, but they hide under the snow all winter. They can be simultaneously attributed to winter and early spring mushrooms. They are well preserved in the spring. In early spring, you can see everywhere in the forest glades: strobiliurus, sarcosciffs, xeromorphins.
In the spring, tinder fungi (May, volatile) and many other species begin to grow intensively in forests.
Spring walks or hiking in the forest are not only good for health, they also give a boost of vivacity and awaken internal forces. This period is also good because there are no mosquitoes and moose flies in the forest, and nothing prevents you from enjoying nature. It is in the spring that you can not only pick mushrooms, but also hear wonderful birdsong, enjoy pictures of their current flight, when the male soars up, waves its wings and sings its wonderful trills.
At the beginning of the spring season, there are no other blood-sucking insects, but ticks already appear in May, and their activity is especially great in late May and early June, therefore, during this period you should have tight clothes, a hat or a scarf, use appropriate means that impregnate the clothes .
This video details the spring mushrooms in the forests near Moscow:
Strobilurus edible and cuttings
After the snow melts, the first spring edible mushrooms the size of a ten-copeck coin appear on the cones and on the spruce litter in the forest. They are called strobilruses. These early spring mushrooms grow in clusters. Although the strobiliurus are edible, but they are not very tasty and it is problematic to collect them because of their small size.
Photos and descriptions of spring strobilliurus mushrooms of different species are presented below:
Strobilurus edible, or juicy (Strobilurus esculentus).
Habitats: spruce forests, on spruce litter or on cones, grows in groups.
Season: early mushroom, April-May.
The cap is 1-2 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 3 cm, first convex, later prostrate, flat. A distinctive feature of the species is a brownish or chestnut slippery hat with a tubercle in the center and a thin edge.The color in the center of the hat is darker, brownish-brown.
As you can see in the photo, these spring mushrooms have a thin leg, 3-5 cm high and 1-3 mm thick, cylindrical, yellowish on the top, and yellowish brown below:
The second distinctive feature of the species is the presence of a long, furry rooting with woolly strands reaching for a cone.
The pulp is white, dense, with a pleasant, first with a slightly pungent odor, later with a slightly herring odor.
Medium-frequency plates, notch-attached, first white, later yellowish. Spore powder is white.
Variability: the color of the hat varies from brownish to brownish brown.
Similar views. The edible strobilius is similar to the edible strobilurus cuttings (Strobilurus tenacellus), which is distinguished by a more convex yellow-brown hat.
These first spring mushrooms are edible, they belong to the 4th category. Only young hats are used for food; they are fried after preliminary boiling for 15 minutes.
Strobilius cuttings (Strobilurus tenacellus).
In addition to the edible strobilurus, there are also inedible barks, which differ in herring odor. They are called strobilureus cuttings.
Habitats: pine and spruce forests, on the litter or on cones, grows in groups.
The picking season for these spring mushrooms is May-June.
The hat is 0.7-1.5 cm in diameter, sometimes up to 2 cm, first convex, later open, flat. A distinctive feature of the species is a light brown, pinkish-brown matte hat with a blunt tubercle in the center, uneven and with a weakly ribbed thin edge.
The stalk of these mushrooms, growing in the spring in the Moscow Region, is thin, 2-5 cm tall and 1-2.5 mm thick, cylindrical, cartilaginous, often pubescent at the base, white above, yellowish. The second distinctive feature of the species is the presence of a long, furry rooting with woolly strands reaching for a cone.
Look at the photo - the flesh of these mushrooms, which appear in the spring as one of the first, white, dense:
At first, the smell of the pulp is pleasant, slightly herring later becomes unpleasant, gives off a bit of mustiness.
Medium-frequency plates, notch-attached, first white, later yellowish. Spore powder is white.
Variability: the color of the hat varies from brownish to brownish brown.
Similar views. The strobilius cuttings are similar to the edible strobilurus (Strobilurus esculentus), which is distinguished by a more brilliant hat with a darker brownish-brown tint, a more brightly colored leg, and not such a strong smell.
These first spring mushrooms are considered conditionally edible due to the specific herring smell.
Xerofolin Spring Mushroom
In late April and early May, the first colonies of mushrooms appear, which occupy the whole rotten stump or rotten trunk. First of all, they are stem-shaped xeromorpholines (Xeromphalina cauticinalis). These spring mushrooms, growing in the suburbs of Moscow, are pretty, reminiscent of tiny yellow foxes with a long thin leg. These little-known fruiting bodies can be seen not far from country roads and paths, in a humid area.
Habitats: in mixed and coniferous forests, grow in large groups on rotten stumps.
Season: May-July.
The hat has a diameter of 0.5-3 cm. A distinctive property of the species is a shiny, sticky bright yellow, or yellow-orange hat with an umbrella-shaped shape with a small depression in the center and radial strips from the translucent plates.
Leg 2-6 cm tall, 1-3 mm thick. From the hat comes a cone, then the leg is smooth, cylindrical pinkish-brown or yellowish-orange.
The plates of these mushrooms, which grow in the spring one of the first, are rare, first cream, later yellowish-cream, descending with a cone on the leg.
The pulp is first white, later light yellow, brittle, odorless.
Variability. The color of the hat varies from yellow-orange to egg.
Similar views.Xeramfololine is stem-shaped in color similar to oak hygrocybe (Hygrocybe quieta), which also has a yellowish-orange color, but there is a tubercle on the cap.
Xeromorphine mushrooms are inedible.
Poison False Foam
The most massive spring poisonous mushrooms in the Moscow region are false-yellow-gray-yellow foams. They grow in large groups on the stumps and trunks of fallen trees. From afar, they look like edible summer mushrooms, but differ in the sulfur-yellow color of the underside of the hat. Most often they are found in mixed forests, where spruce, birch, oak, and aspen grow.
Habitat of False Foam Sulfur Yellow (Hypholoma fasciculare): decaying wood and stumps of deciduous and coniferous species, grow in large groups.
Habitats: decaying wood and stumps of deciduous and coniferous species, grow in large groups.
Season: April - November
The hat has a diameter of 2-7 cm, first hemispherical, later convex. A distinctive feature of the species is a light yellow or light pinkish-brown convex-flat hat with a noticeable tubercle, which has a brighter red-brick color.
The leg is thin and long, curved, has a height of 3-9 cm, a thickness of 3-8 mm, has the same color as the hat, or is slightly lighter, with a yellowish tint, cylindrical, slightly narrowed near the base, with traces of the ring. The base of the leg is darker - orange-brown.
Pulp: sulfur-yellow, tender and fibrous, with an unpleasant odor and a bitter taste.
Plates are frequent, wide, adherent, sulfur-yellow or olive-brown.
Variability. The color of the hat varies from tan to sulfur yellow.
Similar views. The inedible false foam sulfur-yellow can be confused with the edible false foam gray-lamellar (Hypholoma capnoides), which differs in the color of the plates - light gray, as well as a more convex oily cap of yellowish-orange color.
These fungi are toxic and toxic.
Psatirella mushroom picking in spring forest
Habitat of psatirella gray-brown (Psathyrella spadiceogrisea): soil, rotten wood and stumps of deciduous trees grow in clusters.
Season: May - October.
The hat has a diameter of 2-5 cm, first bell-shaped, later convex-spread with a blunt tubercle in the center. A distinctive feature of this spring type of mushroom is a gray-brown hat with radial fiber, which looks like thin dashes, as well as a light thin border along the edge, uniform color in young specimens and large color zones in adult mushrooms. These zones are of two types: yellowish-pink in the center of the hat or gray-brown in the center, and further, in the middle zone, a yellowish-silver concentric zone with blurry edges.
The leg has a height of 4-9 cm, a thickness of 3 to 7 mm, cylindrical, slightly thickened at the base, hollow, smooth, whitish, powdery in the upper part.
Pay attention to the photo - at the base of the leg of this edible spring mushroom is darker, brownish:
Pulp: watery, whitish, fragile, thin, with a pleasant taste and a good mushroom smell.
The plates are grown, frequent, narrow, reddish-brown.
Variability. The color of the hat can vary from gray-brown to reddish-brown with yellowish-pink spots or zones.
Similar views. The gray-brown psiatrella is similar in shape and size to the velvet psatirella (Psathyrella velutina), which is distinguished by a reddish-buffy hat, densely covered with fibers that give a velvety appearance.
Psatirella mushrooms are edible, 4th category, after preliminary boiling for at least 15 minutes.
Next, you will find out what other mushrooms grow in the spring.
Edible Mushroom Collibia
In the middle and end of May, the first types of collibi appear. These include primarily chestnut or oil collibi. These cute small mushrooms attract their spectacular appearance, although they are small in size. Although they are edible, they are not collected because of their small size and the lower, fourth category in terms of nutritional properties.
Habitats of a chestnut, or oily (Collybia butyracea) collibia: mixed and coniferous forests, on forest litter, on decaying wood. These mushrooms in the spring forest usually grow in groups.
Season: May - October.
The hat has a diameter of 3-8 cm, first hemispherical, later convex with a round tubercle and then spread out with a flat tubercle and raised or curved edges. A distinctive feature of a spring mushroom called collibia is the chestnut-brown color of the hat with a flat tubercle of a darker brown color and light, cream or light brown edges.
Leg 4-9 cm tall, thin, 2-8 mm thick, cylindrical, smooth, first cream, later pale brown. The base of the leg is thickened.
The pulp is watery, thin, soft, whitish or yellowish, first odorless, later with a faint moldy odor.
The plates are creamy or yellowish, emarginate. Between the attached plates are short free plates.
Variability: the color of the hat is variable depending on the maturity of the fungus, the month and the humidity of the season. The color may be chestnut-brown, especially in early summer, red-brown with a brown tint, brown-brown with a dark middle, gray-brown-brown with an olive shade, lilac-brown. In the dry season, the hat fades to light tones of yellow, cream and light brown.
Similar views. The chestnut collibia is similar in shape and size to the edible forest-loving colibia (Collybia dryophila), which is characterized in that it has a significantly lighter hat.
Edibility: edible, but require preliminary boiling in 2 waters to eliminate the smell of mold. They belong to the 4th category.
Inedible Otide Mushroom
Spring forest presents us with surprises. One of these surprises is graceful otidey. Their name speaks for itself. You walk through the woods and suddenly on the forest litter you see tender yellowish-straw ears or tulips. They tell us: look, what a unique and diverse nature. Guard us!
Habitat for the elegant Otidea (Otidea concinna): on forest litter in mixed forests, grow in groups.
Season: May - November.
The fruit body has a diameter of 2 to 8 cm, a height of 1 to 6 cm. A distinctive feature of the species is a round, cup-shaped yellow-brown fruit body with the edges bent up. Outwardly, these mushrooms are often similar in shape to tulips. The outer surface has a granular or powdery coating. The inside is tan.
As shown in the photo, these first spring mushrooms grow in groups, united by one common base:
The base of the fruit body is leg-shaped.
Pulp: brittle, almost thick, light yellow.
Variability. The color of the fruiting body can vary from light brown to tan and lemon yellow.
Similar views. The graceful otideya is similar to vesiculata (Peziza vesiculosa), which differs in a bubbly form.
The graceful otideas are inedible.
These photos show spring mushrooms growing in the Moscow region:
