Wandering back from a mushroom hike with John Ford of King Oyster mushrooms I walked near a stand of Oak and Chestnut trees in a low trafficked area in the Dandenong Ranges.
Some Lycoperdon had caught my eye and as I walked around I glimpsed a flash of yellow gold in the undergrowth. Upon investigation I noticed three rows of chanterelles!
The stand of trees was Oak and Chestnut – there was zero native species other than a few Prickly Currant Bushes.
I quickly realised that this might be the find of my mushroom hunting life! These chanterelles were yellow with an olive to brown dimple on the cap, strong chant veins that were slightly lighter in colour and importantly – a hollow stipe/stem with the ‘two leg’ twist of the Winter Chanterelle – Craterellus tubaeformis or Craterellus lutescens. DNA is pending but I got some advice back from two European Mycologists who have an interest in Cantharellus and Craterellus species and both suggested tubaeformis with atypical colouring.
This would be the first time this species has been found anywhere in Australia and Id guess that if the DNA supports this ID then it is likely another mycorrhizal passenger from Europe as I know that at least the Oaks were imported from the United Kingdom like many Oaks from Cockatoo right down to Olinda and the Patch in the Dandenongs.
The smell was fruity, and in the later photos I have included the orange species which is our local native Cantharellus concinnus the Vic native chanterelle for comparison.
Taste I hear you ask? Excellent!
Very nice find. I found some very similar Feb 2019
Nice work – any photos?
Love your work man! How exciting!
Thanks mate was a pretty exciting moment I can tell you
Amazing! Great find and excellent pics… cheers!
Did you get DNA results? I would say that was a cantharellus cibarius from the photos, but a great find nonetheless!
Hi Andrew – it got delayed due to Lockdown but I will definately update as soon as we have them!
Some onions, and garlic done in butter…very nice.
sounds perfect!