False Chanterelle vs Golden Chanterelle
Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca and Cantharellus cibarius are confused for one another often enough to be worth putting next to each other.
The mushroom most people’s first chanterelle turns out to be. Harmless to many and upsetting to some, and it carries true gills rather than a chanterelle’s blunt folds.
One of the great wild edibles. Egg-yellow, apricot-scented, with blunt false gills running down the stem.
Side by side
| Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca | Cantharellus cibarius | |
|---|---|---|
| In this game | Inedible / unclear | Edible |
| Habitat | Not recorded yet | Mossy broadleaf and conifer woodland on acid soil, mycorrhizal with beech, oak, birch and pine. |
| Season | Not recorded yet | Summer to autumn. |
| Spore print | Not recorded yet | Pale yellow. |
This comparison cannot make a mushroom safe to eat. It sets out the few characteristics this game records, in general terms, for two species that vary by region, age and growing conditions. Real specimens overlap in ways no table and no photograph can separate, and the deadly one here is deadly in a single meal. Ask a qualified local expert, every time.
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Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca is also confused with Pacific Golden Chanterelle and Pale Chanterelle.
Cantharellus cibarius is also confused with Deadly Webcap, Eastern Jack-o’-Lantern, Jack-o'-Lantern, Pale Chanterelle, Yellowfoot and Hedgehog Mushroom.
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