Autumn honey fungus (Armillaria mellea; Armillaria borealis) photo and description

Description

The cap is 3-10 cm in diameter (rarely up to 15-17 cm), initially convex, opens up to flat, often with wavy edges. The skin can be colored in various shades from honey-brown to greenish-olive, darker in the center. The surface is covered with rare light scales, which can disappear with age.

The flesh of young caps is dense, whitish, becomes thin with age; fibrous in the legs, in mature mushrooms of a coarse consistency. The smell and taste are pleasant.

relatively rare, adherent to the stem or weakly descending. Juveniles are whitish or flesh-colored, slightly darken when ripe, to pink-brown, may be covered with brown spots.

Legs 8-10 cm long and 1-2 cm in diameter, solid, with a light yellow-brown surface, darker to brownish in the lower part. The base may be slightly widened, but not swollen. The surface of the leg, like the cap, is covered with flaky scales. Fruiting bodies often grow together with the bases of the legs.

Remains of veils: a ring in the upper part of the leg, usually just under the cap, clearly visible, filmy, narrow, whitish with a yellow edge. Volvo is missing.

The spore powder is white, the spores are 8.5 × 5.5 μm, broadly elliptical.

Variability

It is believed that the color of the cap depends on the substrate on which the mushroom lives. Honey mushrooms growing on poplar, white acacia, mulberry have a honey-yellow hue, on oaks - brownish, on elder - dark gray and on conifers - reddish-brown.

Nutritional quality

Honey mushrooms in a basket

It is referred to in various sources as an edible or conditionally edible mushroom. Undercooked can cause allergic digestive upset. In the West, honey fungus is unpopular, it is considered of little value, sometimes even inedible [source not specified 1034 days], in Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe it is massively harvested and consumed, here it is considered one of the best lamellar mushrooms. According to a questionnaire survey conducted in Crimea, up to 60% of mushroom pickers collect mushrooms, mainly in autumn. Many mushroom pickers select only young specimens or only hats for food.

Honey mushrooms contain valuable trace elements that play an important role in hematopoiesis, so 100 g of honey mushrooms satisfy the body's daily need for zinc and copper.

Honey mushrooms are eaten in salted, pickled, fried, boiled and dried form.

Honey mushroom Autumn or Honey mushroom Real Armillaria Mellea

Conventionally - an edible mushroom from the genus Openok, family Fizalakrievye, also known as Osenniy Honey Osenok. One of the most popular plate mushrooms in Russia. This species has a twin brother Armillaria Borealis - Osenniy Severniy, practically indistinguishable from him.

Appearance

The cap is up to 10 cm in diameter, and sometimes as much as 17 cm. In young specimens it is convex, then becomes flat, sometimes with wavy edges. The surface of the cap is covered with light sparse scales that can disappear with age. The color of the cap is highly variable, it is assumed that it depends on the substrate on which the fruit body grows. Growing on poplar, white acacia, mulberry have a honey-yellow tint of the cap, on coniferous trees - reddish-brown, on oak - brown, and on elder - gray.

The hymenophore is lamellar, the plates are adherent to the stem, or weakly creeping along it, rare, in adolescence, pale pink, later becoming pinkish-brown, can be covered with brown spots. Spore powder is white.

Leg up to 10 in length and up to 2 cm in diameter, yellow-brown shade, darker in the lower part. In the upper part there is a light membranous ring. The surface of the leg is covered with flaky scales; there is often a slight expansion below. In addition, fruiting bodies often grow together with their legs below.

The flesh in the cap is light and dense, in young specimens it becomes thinner with age. In the stem, the pulp is fibrous, strongly coarse with age. Has a pleasant mushroom smell and taste.

Where and when it grows

Autumn honey fungus is a parasite fungus that lives on many plant species - trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Usually bears fruit in large groups. It settles on weakened wood, causing white rot of the trunk. It can grow on already decaying wood, up to fallen branches and cuttings of fallen leaves. Osenny honeydew is famous for the fact that wood, impregnated with its mycelium, can glow in the dark with a faint white glow.

Armillaria Mellea is widespread throughout the Northern Hemisphere, except in the permafrost region. Prefers damp forests, ravine slopes, places where deforestation was carried out.

Fruiting from late August to the very beginning of winter, especially active in the first half of September. It often appears in waves lasting 15 to 20 days. An attentive collector always determines whether these mushrooms have gone to bear fruit in the next wave.

Culinary Value

Armillaria Mellea is extremely popular in Russia, in contrast to European countries, where it is hardly harvested. It can cause eating disorders when eaten raw, so it is recommended to pre-boil it, although very many lovers never do this. The pulp of this mushroom is tasty, but very dense and difficult to digest, so boiling for 20 minutes will not hurt it anyway. The mushroom is suitable for any kind of culinary processing or harvesting for future use. The taste qualities of each particular specimen strongly depend on the place of growth, and on the age of the mushroom - how many variants of the area, so many variants of taste. In older specimens, the legs are too stiff, and, as a rule, they are not assembled. The property of this mushroom to grow in huge families allows a successful gatherer to fill their baskets to the top in one sitting.

If collected inattentively, Autumn Honey can be confused with

Cultivation

Armillaria mellea is a highly nutritious edible mushroom. It is easy enough to grow in culture. Several cultivation methods are used.

The most labor-intensive and reliable for the conditions of summer cottages is on artificially created stumps. In this case, the mycelium is sown on cuts of tree trunks dug into the ground. The sown mycelium in its development fits into the natural cycle and yields a harvest for 3-5 years or until the nutrient medium - the stump - is destroyed. Sowing can also be carried out on stumps of freshly cut trees. The plantation is created in spring or autumn.
In winter, autumn honey agaric is grown in specially equipped growing cellars or ground empty buildings.
Intensive method of growing on nutrient media for the management and regulation of the microclimate.

Morphology

Mycelium - fan-shaped, felt-like white films, gradually turning brown, and dark brown cords (rhizomorph) extending from the base of the leg. Rhizomorphs are able to penetrate the bark of a tree and infect the cambial layer of cells located between the wood and the bark. The mycelium promotes the dispersal of the fungus.

Fruiting body

Hat - the shape is initially convex, later prostrate, often depressed, thin fleshy, buffy, pale brown or yellow-brown with an olive tint and thin, small brown scales. Scales often disappear with age. Diameter 2–8 cm. The flesh is whitish, loose, soft, with a pleasant smell and sour-astringent taste.

The plates are descending, thin, frequent, yellowish-whitish, often with brown spots. There are no buckles at the base of the basidia.

Basidiospores are unicellular, oval, pale yellow or colorless. Dimensions: 7-9x5-6 microns. Formed in the hymenophore. Spore powder is white.

Autumn honey agaric, Armillaria mellea

Hat: Diameter 5-10 cm (sometimes up to 15), in young mushrooms it is spherical, with an inwardly curved edge, then flat-convex with a tubercle in the center, gray-yellow or yellow-brown, with small brown scales.The pulp is dense, white, with a pleasant smell and sour taste.

Plates: Slightly descending, frequent, first white-yellowish, then light brown, often with dark spots.

Spore powder: White.

Leg: Length 6-12 cm, diameter 0.5-2 cm, cylindrical, often with tuberous thickening at the bottom, white ring in the upper part, light above, brown below. The pulp is fibrous, tough.

Distribution: Occurs from August to October on both dead and living trees. Prefers hardwood, especially birch. It grows in so-called "waves" up to 15 days, one or two waves a year, at this time they are found in huge quantities.

Similar species: Autumn mushroom can be confused only with fleecy scaly, Pholiota squarrosa, which differs from mushroom by increased scaly, bitter taste and rare odor. In the domestic literature, they frighten with "false mushrooms" with sulfur-yellow (Hypholoma fasciculare) and brick-red (Hypholoma sublatertiium), the similarity of which with Armillaria mellea is limited to the fact that they grow, as a rule, on stumps.

Another is more interesting. Even the authors of popular translated books like "everything about all mushrooms" distinguish a certain Armillaria gallica (syn. A. bulbosa), which differs from Armillaria mellea in its characteristic swollen leg, a thin spider-like private veil, and also in the fact that it grows exclusively on dead wood or on forest floor. Other authors, apparently, do not distinguish this rather characteristic variety of mushroom into a separate species. However, culinary-oriented "mushroom books" do not set themselves the goal of distinguishing between closely related edible species. I can note that mushrooms, very similar to the described Armillaria gallica, regularly and in large numbers come across to me, as well as hundreds of mushroom pickers, in the Tula region, in an old damp broad-leaved forest, where they grow mainly on soil. Approximately the same (although not quite the same) mushrooms grow in the same place on spruce litter, including under the trees on my site.

Still, no doubt, Armillaria ostoyae, a parasite on conifers, stands out. It differs from A. mellea primarily in the darker color of the scales on the cap (which, according to some reports, is due to the type of tree on which the fungus parasitizes). I am not aware of any more obvious criteria. An instructive monograph on autumn forest ends with the following words:

"... However, we were unable to establish the morphological affiliation of many of the collected fruit bodies, since each of them combined the characteristic features of two or three species of Armillaria."

In fact, the structure of the genus Armillaria is constantly being revised. Leafing through paper and electronic literature, one can draw only one conclusion, not at all original: how many people, so many opinions. There are as many mycologists as there are variants of the species composition of the genus Armillaria. There is absolutely nothing for an amateur to do in this topic. And it seems that real specialists also have a hard time coping with all this.

Edible: As everyone knows, this is a good edible mushroom, but requires some heat treatment.

Author's Notes: I have never shared the mass psychosis about honey agarics. Edible mushrooms in such quantities is a mockery of the very idea of mushroom hunting. Gathering honey agaric is exactly gathering, tedious hard work, and I, as you understand, strongly oppose the consumer attitude towards the mushroom.

Ecology and distribution

Most often it is a parasite, infects about 200 species of trees and shrubs, less often it parasitizes herbaceous plants such as potatoes. Causes white wood rot. It grows in large families (lonely mushrooms are very rare) on the trunks of living trees, on their stumps. It is able to spread to unpopulated trees with the help of black cord-like mycelium strands, the length of which reaches several meters. They can often be seen under the bark of the affected plant.

Sometimes honey agarics are saprophytes: they grow on stumps and on dead trees, and in especially fruitful years - on fallen branches, and sometimes even on cuttings of fallen leaves. In this case, there is a white glow of the stumps at night.

It is widely distributed in the forests of the Northern Hemisphere from the subtropics to the North; it is absent only in permafrost regions.

Prefers damp forests, especially on trees and stumps growing in ravines. It also appears on stumps remaining after forest felling, the following data were obtained for the flat part of Ukraine:

For 2-3 years after felling, it appears around the stumps of birch, elm, alder, aspen;
after 8-10 years - on oak and pine stumps.

The yield of autumn honeydew depends on the weather conditions in a given season. In favorable years, the harvest can reach 265-405 kg / ha, in unfavorable (dry autumn) - up to 100 kg / ha (data obtained in the 1970s in the Rivne region).

Season: late August - early winter, bears fruit most massively in the first half of September or at an average daily temperature below + 15 ... + 10 ° C. Appears in many regions in two or three layers, each of which lasts 15-20 days.

Evaluation of taste, medicinal properties, benefits and possible harm

Mushrooms are often called vegetable meat, while their calorie content is minimal. Dark mushrooms contain a large amount of glycogen, vitamins, trace elements, as well as organic acids, sugar and ash. The phosphorus content in them is higher than in cow's milk, and the potassium content is the same as in pears. Half of the dry mass is fiber.

The flesh of spruce honey agaric is tough enough, which means it will be difficult to digest. It should not be eaten by the elderly or those suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

Important! It is forbidden to eat mushrooms for children under three years old, pregnant and lactating women. Dark mushrooms are used to treat tumors, antibacterial therapy, diseases caused by E. coli or Staphylococcus aureus

They are able to normalize the functioning of the thyroid gland. In addition, they help to remove cholesterol and prevent it from lingering in the vessels, and the low glycemic index allows them to be used by patients with diabetes mellitus.

Dark mushrooms are used to treat tumors, antibacterial therapy, diseases caused by E. coli or Staphylococcus aureus. They are able to normalize the functioning of the thyroid gland. In addition, they help to remove cholesterol and prevent it from lingering in the vessels, and the low glycemic index allows patients with diabetes mellitus to use them.

The article was compiled using the following materials:

Garibova L.B, Sidorova I.I. Mushrooms. Encyclopedia of the Nature of Russia. - M .: 1997 .-- 352 p. & nbspDownload >>>

Perevedentseva L.G. Keys to fungi (agaricoid basidiomycetes): textbook. Moscow: KMK Scientific Publishing Association. 2015 - 119 p.

Peresypkin V.F. Diseases of agricultural crops. Volume 3. Diseases of vegetable and fruit crops, Kiev: Harvest, 1991. - 208 p.

Mushroom growing technology, Kuban Agricultural Information and Consulting Center, Krasnodar - 24 p.

Images (reworked):
5.

Armillaria mellea - Fruiting Bodies, by Andrej Kunca, National Forest Center - Slovakia, Bugwood.org, under CC BY-NC license

Armillaria mellea, by Sturgis McKeever, Georgia Southern University, Bugwood.org, under CC BY-NC license

Collapse
List of all sources

Armillaria recipe

The bodies of dark mushrooms contain a little water, they are great for frying, but the legs are often not used for food, as they are very tough, especially in older specimens. Because of the love for conifers, honey mushrooms may taste a little bitter, but boiling relieves them of this. These mushrooms are salted, pickled, dried and frozen - they are suitable for any processing.

Primary processing

Preliminary preparation for further preparation consists in cleaning the fruits from forest debris, they should also be rinsed under running water and boiled for 20 minutes, draining the water after that.

Cooking

To boil the mushrooms, you only need the fruits themselves, water and salt to taste. It is enough to boil mushrooms in salted water twice for 20 minutes, changing the water between processes to a new one. Then they can be cooked further or added to the soup.

Pickling

For pickling, boiled mushrooms are used, you will need:

mushrooms - 1 kg;
salt - 2 tbsp. l .;
sugar - 1 tbsp. l .;
vinegar - 2 tbsp. l .;
carnation - 2 buds.

Cooking process:

Pour 1 liter of water into a saucepan, add salt and sugar, bring to a boil.
Pour in vinegar and cloves.
After 2 minutes, add the mushrooms.
Cook for 15 minutes.
Put fruits in prepared jars, pour marinade over them.

The jars should be cooled, covered with lids and placed on the lower shelf in the refrigerator.

Freezing

Boiled mushrooms are subjected to freezing. They should cool completely, and all the water should drain. After that, the fruits are distributed in portioned containers or packages and sent to the freezer.

Important! If you freeze a large number of mushrooms in one container, then it will be difficult to separate them and get the required amount for cooking

Frying

To make delicious mushrooms with sour cream, you will need:

boiled mushrooms - 0.5 kg;
sour cream - 5 tbsp. l .;
onions - 300 g;
fresh dill - 100 g;
butter - 50 g;
salt and pepper to taste.

Cooking process:

Chop the onion finely, fry until soft in a pan.
Add mushrooms, butter, stir, salt and pepper.
After 5 minutes, add sour cream.
After boiling, add finely chopped dill.
Remove from heat after 2 minutes.

These mushrooms are best served with boiled potatoes.

Salting

For salting, you will need previously prepared dark mushrooms, boiled in salted water:

mushrooms - 2 kg;
salt - 100 g;
garlic - 6 cloves;
black allspice - 10 peas;
dill - 2 umbrellas.

Cooking process:

Prepare a deep enameled dish, line the bottom with salt, a layer of mushrooms on top, continue alternating.
Sprinkle each layer with garlic, pepper and dill.
Cover everything on top with gauze in two layers, press down with a plate and set the load on top.
After 10 days, you can try ready-made mushrooms.

During this time, the gauze should be periodically washed or replaced with a new one, this will save the crop and prevent it from becoming moldy during the salting process. At the end, the mushrooms are stacked in jars and closed with lids. You can store it in the refrigerator or basement.

Drying

In order to dry mushrooms, you should not wash and boil them. It is enough to clean the debris with a soft brush, remove the rotten and wormy specimens. The mushrooms should be cut in such a way that they are all the same size, this will allow them to dry equally intensely.

Then string all the pieces on a string and hang in a sunny place, in a well-ventilated room or on the balcony, in the garden. From above, it is better to cover the fruits with several layers of gauze, so it will turn out to avoid insect infestation and dust settling. A week later, in sunny weather, the mushrooms will be completely dried. They can be stored in a dry place, away from foreign odors.

Canning for the winter

In order for the mushrooms to be preserved for a longer period, you will need:

dark boiled mushrooms - 1 kg;
vinegar - 2 tbsp. l .;
salt - 2 tbsp. l .;
sugar - 1 tbsp. l .;
laurel leaves - 3 pcs.;
garlic - 5 cloves;
black peppercorns - 10 pcs.

Cooking process:

Add salt, sugar to 1 liter of water and bring to a boil.
Then add bay leaves, garlic, pepper and boil for 3 minutes.
Add mushrooms, boil for 5 minutes.
Add vinegar, cook for another 5 minutes.
Put the fruits in sterilized jars and pour the marinade to the top.
Sterilize the cans for 20 minutes, then roll up.

Such mushrooms will be stored for a long time and will delight the whole long winter.

Drying mushroom

Shrinking honey fungus (Armillaria tabescens) is a relatively rare fungus of the Fizalakriev family. This variety was described in 1772. Fruit bodies of this species are used for food and medicinal purposes. Due to the high content of biologically active substances, their use has a positive effect on the functioning of the digestive system and other body systems.

It is believed that the mushroom is extremely beneficial for people who suffer from diseases of the biliary tract and liver.In addition, the active components present in this fruiting body help to stabilize blood pressure and eliminate atherosclerotic plaques. These mushrooms also help with a number of other diseases.

Description

Drying mushrooms grow in large groups. The size of the cap of one mushroom can vary from 3 to 10 cm. The surface of the cap is beige. In young fruiting bodies, it has a slightly convex shape, but in the future it is slightly straightened. The edges are folded. Dark scales appear on the surface of the matured caps. On the caps of this variety, mucus does not form, even in rainy weather.

The pulp of these honey agarics is white and has a strong mushroom smell. The taste is tart. In honey agarics of this species, the hymenophore is lamellar. It has a white or pinkish tint, plates adhered to the stem. Ripe fruits emit a cream-colored spore powder. The spores are elliptical and have a smooth surface.

The leg is high. Its length ranges from 7.5 to 20 cm. The diameter is from 0.5 to 1.5 cm. The structure of the stem is fibrous. To the bottom, it narrows greatly. In the upper part, the leg is white, and yellowish at the bottom. There is no ring in this species of honey agaric. An incision reveals that the stem is hollow.

Fruiting season and distribution sites

Shrinking honey agaric most often bears fruit in groups on the trunks and branches of trees. Fruit bodies often appear on rotten stumps. It is noted that this type of mushroom prefers oak wood, although they can bear fruit on other species. Less often, the mycelium bears fruit on the ground. Under favorable conditions, fruits begin to appear at the end of July. In the future, they can be found until the end of October. In regions with a mild climate, these fruiting bodies continue to bear fruit until the end of November.

Most often, this species is found in North American, Far Eastern and European forests. For the beginning of fruiting, special weather conditions are required. Most often, these mushrooms appear if, after a long period of heat, a cold snap sets in and rains begin. If autumn is dry, fruiting bodies are hardly formed.

Similar types and differences from them

Shrinking honey fungus outwardly resembles a number of species that bear fruit at about the same time. It is necessary to distinguish these mushrooms from twins, since many of the similar species are conditionally edible and poisonous.

This mushroom looks like an autumn mushroom. The latter have brownish caps and grow on stumps and trees with influenza, but these species can be easily distinguished. The autumn mushroom has a ring on the leg. In addition, this variety is much more common than the described specimens.

Shrinking honey fungus can be easily confused with representatives of the genus Stropharia mushrooms (bordered gallery). These species are outwardly almost indistinguishable. They bear fruit at the same time. They can be found mainly under trees and on stumps.

The only significant difference is the color of the spore powder. In the gallery bordered, it is brown. It is imperative to be able to distinguish between these fruiting bodies, because many representatives of the genus Stropharia are poisonous.

In addition, young shriveled mushrooms outwardly resemble talkers belonging to the Ryadovkov family. However, these fruits do not have the characteristic scales on the caps. In addition, they have black mycelial strands.

It is often difficult to distinguish this species of honey agaric from other representatives of the Fizalakriev genus. However, these fruits do not have the rings on the legs, which are present in most species of autumn honey agarics.

Edibility

This mushroom is edible. However, these fruiting bodies should be collected only in ecologically clean areas, because they tend to accumulate harmful substances. Fruits of this type are highly valued by mushroom pickers for their good taste.

Best of all, the taste of these mushrooms is revealed when frying or stewing. In addition, dried mushrooms are suitable for making soups. Fruits of this type can also be harvested for the winter.They are good for drying. These mushrooms are used for pickling and pickling.