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Ascocorine meatus, or corine, is a species of the family Helociaceae, the representatives of which are numerous and are characterized mostly by small or microscopic organisms. In mycology, the fungus is known as Ascocoryne, or Coryne, sarcoides, Bulgaria, or Chlorospleniella, or Sarcodea sarcoides, Helvella purpurea or sarcoides.
In addition to these names, there are other, less common, definitions of corine meat in Latin: Ombrophila, or Lichen, or Octospora, or Tremella sarcoides, Peziza porphyria, or tremelloidea, or sarcoides.
Many ascomycetes, or marsupial fungi, of the family, like this species, feed on dead wood.
Externally, colonies of Ascocorina meatus are bright, although small growths on dead wood
Where does ascocorine meat grow?
Arboreal marsupial fungi of this species are most often found collected in clumps, where one fruiting body is closely pressed against another and is therefore deformed. Colonies of ascocorine meatus are always found on old rotten deciduous wood, especially on birch:
- on rotten logs;
- fallen trunks;
- stumps.
Settlements can be large. Their size is explained by the method of reproduction using conidia, processes from the fruiting body, which are immobile spores due to indirect cell division. Single mushrooms are very rarely found. Ascocorine meat colonies form from late summer to early winter. In regions with mild winters, the fruiting bodies of the species develop throughout the cold period and are also found at the end of February. Korine meat is distributed in temperate areas throughout Eurasia, as well as in North America.
What does ascocorine look like?
One fruiting body develops from a lobe-shaped or spherical initial shape to formations similar to a flat bowl or funnel. Miniature sizes:
- diameter up to 10 mm;
- height from 6 to 12 mm.
The fruiting body of the meat type does not have a cap as such. The mushroom is located on a short false stalk that feeds from the substrate. The color of the skin and pulp is pink-violet, or can be reddish or gray-purple, resembling minced meat. The outer surface of the fruiting body is slightly fleecy. The inside is smooth or slightly folded. The color is the same on both sides.
Askokorine meat goes through two phases of development. First, tongue-shaped conidia, no longer than 1 cm in size, can form on the fruiting body, which in ascomycetes serves for asexual budding.Over time, under favorable conditions, new fungal bodies are created from conidia, thus forming medium-sized meat-type colonies.
At the second stage of development, the mushrooms turn into saucer-shaped mushrooms - up to 3 cm. Visible clusters can be quite large in area. The pulp is gel-like, odorless. With age, the colony becomes more diffuse and gelatinous. The outlines of the edges of individual mushrooms are lost, which merge with each other, turning into a shapeless mass while maintaining a pink-purple hue. The mass of spores is white.
Since the fruiting bodies in clusters creep on top of each other, they become deformed, becoming a brain-shaped flat formation of a pink-red hue
Is it possible to eat ascocorine meat?
The mushroom is considered inedible both because of the extremely small volume of fruiting bodies and because of the insufficiently studied properties of the pulp. In addition, accumulations on old wood, painted lilac-pink, have an unpleasant consistency and unattractive appearance. The results of recent studies have concluded that there are no toxic substances in the flesh of Ascocoryne meat, as well as in the fruiting bodies of its counterpart - Ascocoryne cylichnium. These tree fungi are very similar and can only be distinguished by specialists at the microscopic level.
Ascocorina cilichnium, or goblet, is the same small formation on rotting wood
There is information from some sources that when studying meat corine about 10 years ago, they found out interesting facts about the properties of the species:
- volatile substances are formed in the pulp, which are called “mycodiesel”, since the content of octanes, carbon alcohols and ketones resembles automobile fuel;
- about the discovery of an antibiotic in the pulp that has a suppressive effect on gram-positive bacteria.
Conclusion
Ascocorine meatus is a rather rare woody mushroom of the temperate climate zone. The small, brightly colored fruiting bodies of the species are not of any culinary interest, although they are not poisonous.
