Content
Hymenochaeta red-brown, red-rust or oak is also known under the Latin names Helvella rubiginosa and Hymenochaete rubiginosa. The species belongs to the large Hymenochetaceae family.
The biological cycle of the species is one year
What does red-brown hymenochete look like?
At the beginning of the growing season, the caps of the red-brown hymenochete are pressed to the surface of the substrate. Then the fruiting bodies rise and take on the appearance of prostrate, sessile fruits with a tiled arrangement on the surface of the wood.
If the mycelium is on a standing stump, the mushrooms resemble a lowered fan or shell.On the lower side of a fallen tree there are resupinate ones, with a variety of non-repeating shapes.
The external characteristics of the red-rusty Hymenochete are as follows:
- fruiting bodies are thin - up to 0.6 mm, with a rigid, dense woody structure;
- the surface with radial stripes is much darker than the main background;
- the color of the fruiting bodies is uniform up to the edge, can be steel or brown;
- along a smooth or wavy edge there is one or several light lines of different widths;
- the surface of the caps is grooved, velvety at the beginning of growth, then smooth, and at the end of the biological cycle it becomes glossy;
- hymenophore with randomly scattered tubercles;
- in young specimens the color is orange, with age it becomes red-brown or purple; closer to the edge the color is always much lighter.
The pulp of the red-brown hymenochete is brown with a gray tint, tasteless and odorless.
Fruits are found on both horizontally and vertically located wood
Where and how does it grow
The mushroom is cosmopolitan, without the boundaries of the main cluster. In Russia it can often be found in mixed forests and oak groves. The saprotroph parasitizes rotting oak wood. Fruits in temperate climates from early summer until winter. In the southern regions, red-brown hymenochete can grow until the next season. The mycelium causes the spread of dry rot.
Is the mushroom edible or not?
The structure of the caps is very rigid at any stage of development. The fabric is thin, has no taste, no smell. Cannot be used as a raw material for culinary processing.
Doubles and their differences
Hymenochete tobacco is considered a double.It is distinguished by a lighter color, as well as a leathery, rather than woody, tissue structure. Fusing fruit bodies can occupy a large area in a continuous line, causing white rot. The double is inedible.
Parasitizes on dead wood of any deciduous species
Conclusion
Hymenochete red-brown has a one-year development cycle and grows only on dead wood, stumps and rotting oak branches. The caps are hard with a dense structure and have no nutritional value. There is no information about toxins in the composition; hymenochete is classified as an inedible mushroom.
