Strobilurus esculentus    (Wülfen:Fr.) Singer 

common name(s) : Sprucecone Cap, Edible Collybia 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Physalacriaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Tricholomatales/Dermolomataceae  

synonyms: Collybia esculenta, Pseudohiatula esculenta, Collybia conigena ss.Rick. 

edibility : discard

potential confusions with  Strobilurus esculentus toxicity of Strobilurus esculentus genus Strobilurus  

The cap is ochre brown to reddish brown, convex then expanded, sometimes a bit umbonate; its margin is smooth, slightly striate when damp. The cap surface is smooth, often a bit radially wrinkled.

The stem is concolorous to cap, paler towards the apex, deeply rooting, tough.

The flesh is white in the cap, brown in the stem, unchanging; its taste is mild; the odour is faint, mushroomy; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are grey then cream, shortly adnate, emarginate to free, rather crowded . The spore print is white to creamy-white. This species is saprophytic. It grows only on buried or half-buried cones of spruce, in groups, in coniferous woods, with spruce.

The fruiting period takes place from April to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 2 cm (between 0.5 and 3.5 cm)
  height of stem approximately 4 cm (between 2 and 7 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 2 mm (between 1 and 4 mm)

Chemical tests : none.

Distinctive features : Brown cap; grey-white crowded gills; early in the season; exclusively on buried or half-buried spruce cones

Strobilurus esculentus is rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is frequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Strobilurus esculentus in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Strobilurus esculentus in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18