Fistulina hepatica

This is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.

Fertile surface usually a layer of vertical tubes, of which the mouths are visible as pores on the underside of the cap or shelf.
Fruiting bodies usually tougher or harder than the "normal" gilled mushrooms, being leathery, corky, or woody. But they can be quite tender while actively growing
Once grown, they do not decay easily, remaining on the substrate for months or years
They often grow on wood, although a few are terrestrial (even those are usually growing on buried wood)
Fruiting body is usually a flat shelf, or hoof-shaped, protruding directly from the substrate, although sometimes it may have a short stalk.
Some forms never grow away from the substrate at all, so that all that is visible of the fruiting body are the pores.
Sometimes the pores are so minute that the fertile surface seems solid, until you look closely

Growing on wood

The pores red, pink, or orange-red, or the cap at least partially one of those colors

Cap at least partly red, pink or red-orange
Pore surface white to pale buff, but may discolor reddish

Entire cap red, pink, or reddish-brown
Fruiting body fleshy, not hard or tough; if fresh, exuding a red, blood-like juice when cut or squeezed
Walls of each tube separate; tubes often of different length, giving the fertile surface a tongue-like appearance

Fistulina hepatica     Ja.C. Schaeffer: Fries

Here are the characters that distinguish this species from the others in its group. For its more general characters, see higher up on the page.
If there's just a few words or a microscopic feature here, a more thorough description can be found above.

Diagnosis

• Fruiting body can be stipitate or sessile, bright pink to red to purplish brown
  
• Cap and stipe often minutely bumpy in a way that resembles a tongue
  
• Cap often wrinkled (on top and internally) in a way that resembles muscle fibers

Comments

Fistulina hepatica is one of the few fungi that can be eaten raw, in which case it has a pleasant lemony flavor. Cooked, it tastes less interesting


 

 

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