" Trees
Various types of fungi often appear on tree trunks and stumps. Their living or dead wood becomes a nutrient substrate for representatives of various fungal species.
Microscopic and capped representatives of the biological kingdom of fungi settle on living and dead trunks and dead wood.
The appearance of mushrooms on garden trees indicates poor care of garden plants. In such cases, measures must be taken to save fruit plantations.
Tree fungi living in forests, of course, destroy trees. But many of them are edible, beneficial for human and animal health, and can be used for household needs.
The most famous of the tree fungi that infect the garden:
- tinder fungi and their predecessors– blue-green algae on the northwestern side of the trunk, the reason is thickening, poor lighting;
- false tinder, “lives” on fruit trees, manifested by white rot of the core; signs of damage to stone fruits - dark veins, dark gray and brown growths on the trunks;
- core brown rot Cherries, pears, and other fruits are caused by the sulfur-yellow tinder fungus.
Some polypores are edible at the stage of milk maturity, but require preliminary heat treatment.
In addition to them, edible ones include polyporus cellular and winter honey fungus, as well as:
- oyster mushrooms;
- deer spittle;
- yellow-red row;
- Volvariella silky;
- winter mushroom.
One of the most beautiful representatives– coral-shaped blackberry, an edible mushroom with an unusual “cap” that looks like a very light coral.
Coral blackberry and its features
Among the conditionally edible mushrooms growing on fallen trunks, dead wood or stumps, the coral blackberry (in some sources - the blackberry) stands out for its unusual fairy-tale appearance. This species belongs to macromycetes, that is, fungi with a large and well-developed aerial part. It is also called neophyte, blackberry lattice, hericium coral and coral mushroom.
What does it look like
The mushroom from the hericium family received its name due to the structure of the fruiting body. Branched, irregular in shape, with many short (10-20mm) cylindrical “tentacles”, it really looks a lot like a bush of sea coral. The fragile spines hanging from the main “branches” do not grow longer than 2 cm. Spores form on them. The coral blackberry is attached to the woody substrate by a short stem.
Milky or snow-white, soft cream or with a barely noticeable yellowish tint, the openwork spreading mushroom is far visible in the darkened gloomy deciduous forest. When ripe, hericium darkens, becoming sandy beige or brown.. As air humidity increases, it becomes transparent.
When cut, the flesh of the mushroom is fleshy, very light, white or with a pale pink tint. The smell is pleasant, mushroom, slightly spicy. In late maturity it is dark and hard. The dried “coral” turns brown.
Adult specimens - record holders reach a height and width of 40 cm. The average size is 30, and in Siberian forests it is 15-25 cm in diameter.
Where and how does it grow
It is found relatively infrequently, but its distribution range includes all Russian forests of the temperate climate zone, the Far East and Siberia. It has long mastered the territories of China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Transcaucasia, Europe and North America.
Grows singly and in groups in deciduous forests. Closer to the north, it selects fallen trunks and dead wood of aspen and birch, and to the south - linden, beech, oak, and elm. Rarely found in mixed and coniferous forests. Takes root on fallen trees, stumps and dead wood, in old hollows.
There are legends that in the Middle Ages the coral mushroom was not at all rare. But with his unusual appearance he scared off mushroom pickers; non-officials were called a damn sponge and considered poisonous.
The mushroom is listed in the Red Book of Russia as a rare species.
When it ripens
Blackberries, like other mushrooms, are a perennial organism. And here it is the fruiting body (“hat”) lives for one season - from the second half of July to the beginning of October. At this time, the white “coral” is found by mushroom pickers.
The light branched “bushes” are unique and cannot be confused with any other representative of the mushroom kingdom.
Other species called blackberries are known:
- variegated blackberry(aka hawk, chicken, kolchak, scaly and imbricated blackberry);
- blackberry yellow(aka notched);
- comb blackberry(synonyms - grandfather's or mushroom beard);
- alpine blackberry(or alpine).
In appearance it is most similar to alpine hericium, and in properties - to comb hericium.
For Alpine blackberry, the substrate is fir, spruce, and, less commonly, pine. This type of hericium is found in mountain forests, very rarely on the plains. Spore-bearing thorns are located in bunches at the tips of overgrown branches.
Coral blackberry has no poisonous counterparts.
Healing properties of blackberry
The medicinal benefits of this hericium species are valued. Most of them are due to the presence of phosphorus, calcium, iron, vegetable proteins, polysaccharides and vitamins.
Pharmacologists in Germany and China have advanced more than others in the study and application of healing properties.
Medicinal mushroom is used in the treatment and prevention of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and the entire digestive system. Polysaccharides protect the ulcerated gastric mucosa from stomach acid and stimulate its healing. Stimulate blood flow to the gastrointestinal tract and peristalsis. It is a means of preventing oncological processes in the digestive and excretory systems. The fatty acids, phenols and five polysaccharides contained in the mushroom with antitumor activity act directly on cancer cells, the effect is comparable to chemotherapy.
The healing effect of blackberries on both malignant and benign formations has been proven. It blocks the development of cancer of the breast, lungs, esophagus, liver, stomach, effective in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Indicated for types of prostate adenoma, cysts, fibroids, pituitary adenomas, fibroids. During clinical observations, tumors resolved or significantly decreased in size. In complex anticancer therapy, it reduces the negative consequences of treatment.
Coral mushroom has a good effect on strengthening the immune system, helps reduce fatigue and stimulates fat metabolism.
Improves the functioning of the respiratory organs - bronchi and lungs. Blackberries have a beneficial effect on the activation of hematopoiesis. The positive effect of mushroom preparations on the nervous system has been proven, in particular for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
Extracts are used in the fight against bacterial, fungal and viral diseases.
In folk medicine, tinctures and decoctions are used as antidepressants.. Used for insomnia and neurasthenia. Useful for curing impotence, improving metabolic processes and slowing down the aging of the body.
How do you eat mushrooms?
The interesting unique properties of coral blackberries are used in cooking. Gourmets value the rare mushroom for its good culinary qualities., an interesting appearance of the finished dish and beneficial properties confirmed by scientific research.
Coral-shaped hericium is considered conditionally edible: in cooking, young specimens are used after mandatory pre-treatment. As these mushrooms ripen, they begin to taste bitter.
Despite the fact that the species is listed in the Red Book, in many regions mushroom pickers often find it, prepare it, and share recipes and taste sensations. In the national cuisines of other countries, blackberry dishes are also popular among connoisseurs.
Blackberries are stewed, fried, boiled, cooked in batter, added to fillings. It is prepared for future use by drying, salting or pickling. Dried, used whole or ground into powder.
Coral blackberry is a conditionally edible mushroom that requires special preparation. Blackberries add a subtle aroma to dishes. The taste is bright, according to other sources - delicate and very pleasant, with a nutty tint. When boiled, the taste and texture resembles that of shrimp or squid.
Gourmets share ways to prepare coral mushroom:
- hericium is fried with spices in butter, add various spices and vegetable side dishes;
- making soup, just like from other mushrooms;
- fried in large quantities of vegetable oil;
- added to salads, like other mushrooms.
Coral blackberry is a beautiful creation of nature. The mushroom has good taste and high healing properties.. In recent decades, the area of growth has expanded, as has the frequency of detection of blackberries. Moreover, in Russia the species is under state protection. The task of connoisseurs is to preserve the unique coral mushroom for future generations.
Fans of “silent hunting” usually look for prey in the grass, on the ground, look at their feet, rarely does anyone raise their head and pay attention to what grows on the trees. However, among these species there are many edible and tasty ones, in no way inferior to the “earthly” forms either in usefulness or taste. What mushrooms on trees are edible?
Oyster mushrooms grow on trees, a mushroom with dense white flesh, which over time coarsens and becomes grayish and “rubbery.”
The surface of the mushroom is round, blue-gray, convex, matte. This mushroom is collected in May or June, in the fall, until frost. The food product grows on old stumps, trunks of deciduous trees, such as rowan and oak, aspen and willow, birch and elm. Oyster mushroom is grown industrially and can be found on store shelves. The product is suitable for various dishes, mushrooms can be fried and boiled, made as a filling for pies and pies, prepared first and second courses, snacks
Polypil oak grove or curly grifola is popularly called “ram mushroom”. The fruiting body actually resembles this animal; it is oval or spherical in shape and can grow to a diameter of more than half a meter.
The surface is wavy, the skin is matte, thin, gray or brownish-brown. This is one of the largest mushrooms that grow on a tree, which has its own advantage - you can feed the whole family with one plant. The pulp is elastic and light, has a gray, brownish-brown or yellowish tint, has a taste similar to radish, and a pungent pleasant smell. The mushroom needs to be collected in August or September; it grows on oaks and maples, beeches and chestnuts.
Photo recipe for how to make soup from sheep mushrooms (Grifola curly)
Description
Soup with sheep mushrooms or griffola curly, as they are also called, are not just tasty first course , but the dish is also very healthy! Perhaps the most important property in this regard mushrooms - This is the ability to strengthen the immune system. In addition, griffola curly helps to remove toxins from the body, and thanks to it you can get rid of headaches and migraines. So if you are lucky enough to find mushroom ram in the forest, then know that you will not only be able to feast on it, but also get considerable benefits for your health.
The tastiest preparations will be those lamb mushrooms that are younger. Externally, they can be distinguished by their lighter color. Their taste is more pronounced, and therefore a dish prepared from them, in terms of taste, will turn out more advantageous.
So, if the question of how to cook ram mushroom is relevant to you, then be sure to study this step-by-step photo recipe. With its help you will learn exactly how to cook mushroom soup from grifola curly.
Ram mushroom (Grifola curly)
(300 g)
Potato
(7 pcs.)
Bulb onions
(1 PC.)
Carrot
(1 PC.)
Wheat flour
(1 glass)-
(2 pcs.)
Dill
(taste)-
(taste) -
(taste)
Black peppercorns
(taste)
Sweet peas
(taste)
Cooking steps
The first thing you need to do is prepare all the ingredients needed for the recipe.
Let's prepare homemade pasta for our soup. To do this, you need to pour half a glass of flour onto a clean, dry surface, and then add half a teaspoon of salt to it. After this, beat two chicken eggs into the flour.
There are some small peculiarities in preparing the dough. We will not mix it into a single lump, but grind it, making crumbs. During the process, you will need to gradually add the remaining flour. The correct consistency of the dough will look like the photo below.
After you achieve the desired result, leave the homemade pasta to dry a little.
Now it’s the turn of the curly grifola. Mushrooms should be prepared: peeled, washed and chopped.
After the preparatory stage, you can start cooking grifola. It should be boiled in salted water for at least one hour.
While the mushrooms are cooking, prepare the vegetables. Peel the potatoes and carrots and then cut them into medium pieces. We will also peel the onion and then chop it into small pieces.
Add bay leaf and allspice peas to the mushroom broth. We also send chopped vegetables there. After this, leave the soup on the stove for another half hour.
All that remains is to add dried homemade pasta to the soup and keep it on the stove for about 10 minutes. After this, add two tablespoons of sunflower oil to the mushroom soup.
Now chop the fresh herbs (dill and parsley).
Add fresh herbs to the plates in portions when serving.
Bon appetit!
Similar recipes http://xcook.info/recipe/sup-s-gribami-baranami.html
The sulfur-yellow mulberry is edible conditionally, only at a young age. Specimens growing on deciduous trees such as willow, oak, pear, and ash-leaved maple are suitable for food.
Mushrooms growing on coniferous trees can cause poisoning. The fruiting body is round, fan-shaped, grows sideways to the trunk, the surface color is yellow, pinkish-orange. The pulp is juicy and whitish, with a pleasant smell. Mulberries are harvested from May to September.
Most species of this mushroom are not used as food, but there are exceptions. The tinder fungus is flat (reaches about 17-20 cm in diameter, has a yellow color) and is edible only at an early age because it becomes tough over time. However, the healing properties of this group of mushrooms are more interesting than the gastronomic ones. So, let's find out what the tinder fungus is famous for, its benefits and harms, and also get acquainted with the most famous recipes for its preparation. 
Many types of fungi from the group of tinder fungi have found use in the pharmacological industry. For example, a biologically active supplement is obtained from the birch tinder fungus, which is used for many metabolic diseases, for example, diabetes. Extracts with the following properties are also obtained from this type of tinder fungus:
- antibacterial;
- laxative;
- antitumor;
- antiseptic.
Decoctions and infusions are prepared from chaga, one of the types of tinder fungus, which are popularly known for their analgesic properties and are used as a symptomatic remedy for gastritis and gastric ulcers. Dietary supplements based on chaga extract have a stimulating effect on the nervous system, have analgesic and general tonic effects.
Varnished polypore gets its name due to its glossy, as if varnished, surface. Preparations based on this mushroom have an effect on the cardiovascular system, dilate the coronary arteries, eliminating symptoms of ischemia of the heart muscle, and also help normalize cerebral circulation, thereby improving memory and brain function in general.
The edged tinder fungus has also found application in medicine: homeopathic preparations are made on its basis that help fight disorders of the immune system, changes in the composition of lymph and blood, autoimmune diseases, bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, pleurisy, rheumatism, and viral infections. This type of tinder fungus is also used in the production of natural mushroom flavoring. 
Recipes
Polypores undoubtedly have a great variety of useful properties, but before we consider several simple recipes for medicinal products using them, I want to remind you that when collecting and using mushrooms for food or in any other way, you must be absolutely sure that this is the mushroom you need .
If you have even the slightest doubt, it is better not to use this mushroom. Do not forget that any infusions, decoctions, tinctures and the like are a kind of medicine, so it is worth getting advice from your doctor about the advisability of such treatment.
Healing tea from lacquered tinder fungus
The mushroom must be dried and ground into powder, from which a decoction will then be prepared. You will need 2 tablespoons of tinder fungus powder per 350 ml of cold water. The mixture needs to be heated and boiled for about five minutes, then poured into a thermos and allowed to brew for 10-12 hours.
Take the decoction a couple of tablespoons three times a day 35-40 minutes before meals, the course lasts 3 weeks, followed by a seven-day break.
Important! Mushroom broth should be stored in the refrigerator.
Chaga infusion
You can collect the mushroom yourself, or you can buy ready-made raw materials ground into powder. Chaga is soaked for 5 hours, after this time it is ground and poured with hot water in a ratio of 1 to 5. The next step is to keep the mixture in a dark place for a couple of days, then strain the infusion and dilute with water. You can drink no more than three glasses of this product per day.
Tincture of birch polypore
To prepare the tincture, the mushroom must first be cleaned of dirt, remnants of the bark of the tree on which it grew, and the core. For the tincture, only the hard outer crust is used, so it must be properly dried and crushed into powder, which is then added to vodka or alcohol at a ratio of 5 grams of mushroom per 150 ml. It should be infused in a cool and dark place for two weeks. You should take one teaspoon twice a day, you can dilute it with water.
While wandering through the forest, almost all mushroom pickers look at their feet, and this is not surprising: most edible mushrooms settle in the soil, and it is on its surface that you should look for them. However, there are also mushrooms that you cannot see on the ground: they try to climb higher, climb up a tree trunk, sometimes several meters.
The most famous of these mushrooms arehoney mushroom, the very name “honey agaric” means “mushroom on a stump”, which is why underneath it hides many unrelated species. But besides honey mushrooms, a huge number of mushrooms settle on the trees. These include cap mushrooms (scales, oyster mushrooms) and tinder fungi, which resemble hooves, shelves, shells, growing one above the other, in layers. As with terrestrial fungi, what we see are fruiting bodies; mycelium the same (mycelium) develops inside the wood, destroying it. Therefore, such fungi are called wood destroyers, or xylotrophs.
Some of them live on dead trees, stumps, and dead wood. Such mushrooms, energetically destroying wood, play the role of forest orderlies. Without them, the earth would long ago have been littered with dry trunks and branches, and there would have been no nutrients left in the soil for the growth of new generations of trees. By breaking down dead wood, fungi turn it into soil.
Other mushrooms, settling on living trees, destroy the forest. Their spores enter the tree through various damage to the bark, branches, and roots.
But of this variety of species, only a few are edible. We, as mushroom pickers, are primarily interested in mushrooms for gastronomic purposes, so the main thing is to learn to distinguish mushrooms by their edibility or toxicity. People usually pass by mushrooms on trees without noticing, because even among experienced mushroom pickers, few realize that such mushrooms can be edible and even tasty.
There was once a case. We were returning from the forest, it was in mid-May, with two huge packages. A neighbor, sitting on a bench near the house, curiously asks: “What are you talking about?” “Tinder fungi,” we answer. "What are you going to do with them?" "Let's fry and eat." You should have seen, dear reader, the old woman’s eyes at that moment. They read pity, fear, surprise and even disgust. And in the bags we actually had tinder fungi - young moths (yum!).
Edible tinder fungi
The tinder fungus is variegated, scaly ( Polyporus squamosus)
Common names: pied, pied, pied, hare, elm. The fungus prefers broad-leaved trees. In the middle zone it can be found more often in parks than in forests - on ash, maple, beech, and sometimes on willow.
The motley polypore appears at the end of May. Starting from mid-May, we check those trees on which parsley crops were harvested in previous years, so as not to miss them, because they grow quickly, and after a week the grown mushroom can only be used for mushroom broth or for drying.
Over the summer, several waves of its growth occur. The last individual specimens can be found in late August - early September.
In Georgia, they prefer the variegated tinder fungus to other mushrooms, calling it simply “tree mushroom,” despite the fact that in August, when it grows, the mountain forests are full of moss mushrooms, yellow milk mushrooms, and honey mushrooms.
Yes, indeed, at a young age, moths are very tender, fragrant, fleshy; when you fry them, an incomparable aroma spreads throughout the house. But tinder fungi grow quickly, age and become woody, although even in this form they make an excellent aromatic mushroom broth, although after that the mushroom will have to be thrown away.
The motley polypore is noticeable in the forest from afar; huge saucers grow white on fallen trees. The large fruiting bodies of this tinder fungus often have a saddle shape. The yellowish cap has large brown scales. The thick, short stalk is lateral or eccentrically located to the cap, dark brown at the base, dense and hard, even in young mushrooms.
Laetiporus sulphureus)
Common names: yolks, witch's dough. The sulfur-yellow tinder fungus settles on broad-leaved trees: oaks, elms, walnuts and manchurian nuts, and less often on poplar, willow, birch, and alder. In Siberia, this mushroom lives on larches. It begins to grow at the end of May, beginning of June. It may appear on the same tree a second time, in mid-summer or August.
Once we saw a young yellow mushroom in mid-October - there was something yellow lying on a stump, we approached, it turned out that a recently hatched, still very soft, mushroom was growing. This is how this mushroom is described in one book: “Imagine that inside the trunk of an old hollow oak tree goblins spread a yellow dough, it “escaped” and crawled out through the cracks and crevices of the bark, and froze just like that - in bubbles and sagging.” The mushroom is edible just in the “dough” stage; when young it is so soft and tender, somewhat reminiscent of an omelette in taste. It is important not to miss, the fruiting body quickly ages and becomes woody.
Fistulina hepatica)
The liverwort is shaped like a tinder fungus, it has a semicircular cap and a short side leg. The color of the mushroom is reddish-brown or orange-brown. The liverwort grows on living trees, mainly oak, chestnut, and less often other deciduous trees. Although we did encounter a liverwort growing on the roots of an old stump.
This mushroom can be collected only when it is very young; later the flesh coarsens and becomes tough. In its pure form, this mushroom has a very sour taste, so it is best to add it little by little either to a marinade or to a general stir-fry for color. If you want to try exactly its taste, then it is better to first soak the mushroom in salted water with the addition of a pinch of soda for several hours, then fry it. To our taste, when we tried the fried liverwort, the mushroom had no taste! Something crispy with a slight sourness.
These are large, beautiful and quite tasty mushrooms, which have recently been grown on an industrial scale in many countries.
At first glance, the name comes from the fact that the mushrooms seem to be hung on a tree trunk, like hanging shelves on a wall. But most likely the word “oyster mushroom” is associated with the word “vernal” - spring. The mushroom appears in spring, in May. For normal development of fruiting bodies, oyster mushrooms need a period of slight cooling and good warmth. This weather often occurs at the very beginning of summer and autumn. In mid-summer, oyster mushrooms are rare.
Oyster mushrooms settle on dead wood of deciduous trees, less often on living trees.
At first glance, all oyster mushrooms are very similar, and the more surprising is the fact that under this name mushrooms are united not only of different species, but also of different genera.
Oyster mushroom, oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus)
This mushroom is so named because a dense colony of fruiting bodies touching each other, growing in several floors, really resembles a colony of oyster shellfish.
Oyster mushrooms can be light - beige or brownish - and dark
According to data, there are not too many edible varieties of tree mushrooms, but some of them are well known to mushroom pickers and enjoy well-deserved popularity due to their taste and nutritional value.
| Name | Latin | Pulp | hat | Leg |
| Grifola frondosa | Fibrous, whitish in color, with a pleasant and persistent aroma | Represented by a dense and bushy “pseudo-hat” growth | Light color, quite pronounced | |
| Sulfur-yellow mulberry, or chicken mushroom | Laetiporus sulphureus | Elastic and thick, quite juicy when young | Drop-shaped, yellowish in color | Unexpressed, even yellowish color |
| Oyster mushroom | Pleurotus cornucopiae | White in color, fleshy and elastic, without pronounced aroma or taste | Horn-shaped or funnel-shaped, whitish-gray in color | Covered with descending plates, centrally located |
| Scaly polypore | Polyporus squamosus | Quite juicy, quite dense, with a very pleasant aroma | Leathery, yellow, covered with dark brown scales | Shortened, covered with brownish scales |
| Polyporus cellular | Polyporus alveolaris | Harsh, white, with an inexpressive taste and barely noticeable aroma | Semicircular or oval, reddish-yellow, covered with scales | Shortened, lateral, smooth, whitish in color |
| Flammulina velutipes | Whitish, with a delicate taste and a slight mushroom smell | Convex, slippery, brownish, with a dark center | Velvety fleecy type, brown color |
Poisonous species
Scaly polypore: description (video)
| Name | Latin | Pulp | hat | Leg |
| Fluffy Trametes | Trametes pubescens | White, relatively thin, leathery type | Grooved type, with bristles on a grayish surface | Grayish, practically absent |
| Postia astringent | Postia stiptica | Very juicy, meaty type, overly bitter | Kidney-shaped, semicircular, triangular or shell-shaped, with a whitish surface | White, shortened or absent |
| Piptoporus oak | Piptoporus quercinus | The pulp is white, soft and quite juicy | Round or fan-shaped, rather large, with a velvety or cracking brownish surface | Weakly expressed, the same color as the cap |
| Ischnoderma resinous | Ischnoderma resinosum | Juicy or fibrous, white or light brown in color | Round, sessile, with a descending base, red-brown in color | Medium size, smooth, slightly lighter than the cap |
| Ganoderma southern | Ganoderma australe | Soft consistency, chocolate or dark red color | Flat, slightly curved, sessile, with its wide side growing to the substrate | Virtually absent |
Medicinal types
Currently, the medicinal properties of several varieties of mushrooms are known, the mycelium of which, fused with wood, forms fruiting bodies that have healing qualities. Many mushroom pickers are very active in collecting such mushrooms and making medicines with their own hands.
| Name | Latin | Medicinal properties |
| Lacquered tinder fungus, or Reishi mushroom | Ganoderma lucidum | It has a pronounced antitumor and immunomodulatory effect on the body, normalizes blood pressure, helps improve blood microcirculation, and is widely used for disorders of fat metabolism and loss of strength. |
| Tinder fungus, or chaga | Inonotus obliquus | It has antispasmodic, diuretic, antimicrobial and reparative effects, helps normalize the activity of the gastrointestinal tract, supports beneficial intestinal microflora, heals ulcerative lesions of the stomach and duodenum, and there is evidence of gastroprotective properties |
| Larch sponge | Fomitopsis officinalis | Water infusions have pronounced laxative, sedative and hemostatic effects, and also have a slight hypnotic effect and reduce sweating well |
Effect on bark and roots
Nutritional quality
Among the edible mushrooms listed, some have quite decent taste. Woody species, as well as fruiting bodies growing on the soil, are rich in proteins and amino acids, which allows them to be placed on the same level with meat and fish in terms of consumer and nutritional qualities. The balance of the chemical composition of mushroom pulp is also highly valued. Many tasty and healthy dishes can be prepared from the fruiting bodies of tree mushrooms. These mushrooms are used fresh for boiling, frying or stewing. They can be frozen and dried, and also used for canning.
How to grow oyster mushrooms on stumps (video)
However, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of eating such fruiting bodies. For example, the conditionally edible sulfur-yellow tinder fungus, which grows on deciduous trees, can be used for food purposes only at a young age. Older, overgrown specimens may have hallucinatory effects or cause quite severe food poisoning. It is also important to note that the most toxic are the fruiting bodies of fungi growing on coniferous wood and old, already decaying specimens.
Fungi growing on trees have different morphologies and belong to different botanical groups. In this article they are combined only by place of growth.
Inedible mushrooms predominate among tree mushrooms, since most of them are tough and have a bitter taste, many are also poisonous. A significantly smaller proportion of such mushrooms are edible, but this article is devoted to them.
Mushrooms growing on trees, their edible representatives, as a rule, do not have high nutritional value, but despite this, among them there are also such types of tasty mushrooms as honey mushrooms.
A few facts about tree mushrooms
This type of mushroom grows not only on tree trunks and stumps, but also on different types of soil. They have a smooth and soft texture and taste more like seafood. Their caps are large and fleshy, and their legs can be short or long. The color of the cap depends on which family and variety the mushroom belongs to, but it is also influenced by the environment in which it grows.
The color of young mushrooms can vary from grayish to blue, but as they age they become grayish-brown. Although the color of the cap can be gray, white, brown, yellowish or pink, their flesh is always white.
Those parts of the mushroom that can be eaten have a pleasant taste and have a beneficial effect on the body. They contain a large amount of protein, vitamins C and group B. They also contain many microelements necessary for humans. And they contain more iron, calcium and phosphorus than any type of meat. As for the content of vitamin B3, mushrooms contain 5-10 times more of it than greens and vegetables.
For whom are tree mushrooms especially useful?
Tree mushrooms are a useful component of nutrition, especially for the following categories of people:
Having high levels of cholesterol in the blood;
suffering from anemia;
those who want to boost their immunity;
people with diabetes and obesity;
having increased acidity of gastric juice;
suffering from high blood pressure.
The most common types of tree mushrooms
Tree fungi grow on stumps and on the sides of trees away from the ground. They are often leathery and large. Let's look at the most common mushrooms growing on trees.
Ram mushroom(Foliated polypore, Grifola curly) has a fruiting body in the form of many branching legs that end in flat or semicircular caps. They can reach 20 kilograms in weight and 70 centimeters in diameter. It grows mainly at the base of chestnut, hornbeam, oak, beech and other deciduous trees. Edible.
Scaly polypore(Harebird, Spotted) has a whitish or cream-colored cap with scales up to 50 centimeters in diameter, often with a folded and thinner edge. The leg is whitish-cream, almost black at the base, up to 8 centimeters long.
White tubular layer. The pulp is whitish, dense, and has a floury smell. Grows on living or dead branches and trunks of broad-leaved and fruit trees. It is conditionally edible and consumed at a young age.
Winter polypore has a cap with a diameter of up to 10 centimeters, covered with hairs or small scales. The color is brownish or yellowish. The leg is up to 4 centimeters long, naked, and has the same color as the cap. The flesh is white, as is the tubular layer, which turns brownish when dry. Grows on deciduous trees. Conditionally edible, consumed at a young age.
Sulfur-yellow tinder fungus has a fleshy, loose body, a semicircular cap, up to 40 centimeters in diameter. The color is sulfur yellow or orange. The tubular layer is also sulfur-yellow, the flesh is yellowish-white, soft. It grows in groups in deciduous forests (sometimes in coniferous ones) on living or dead tree trunks. Used at a young age.
Birch polypore has a flattened lateral fruiting body of a yellowish color, which becomes brown over time. The pulp is white. It grows on dead and sometimes on living birch trees. Conditionally edible, consumed at a young age.
Fistulina(Liverwort, Tongue, Ox Liver) has a semicircular, tongue-shaped lateral fruiting body of orange or blood-red color. The pulp has a reddish color and lighter veins arranged radially. The tubes are whitish, cylindrical, and turn brownish-yellow when touched. It grows on living trunks of deciduous forests, in the hollows of old chestnuts and oaks. Conditionally edible.
Psatirella Condolia has a wrinkled bell-shaped cap with a diameter of up to 7 centimeters of cream or brownish color. The plates are gray-blue, becoming almost black over time. The tubular leg is up to 10 centimeters long, has a whitish color, a fluffy top with small scales. Grows in small groups on living trees, deciduous wood, and on the ground. Conditionally edible.
Golden scale has a cap up to 15 centimeters in diameter, dirty golden in color with flaky reddish scales. It grows in large groups on the trunks of poplars, willows and other deciduous trees. Conditionally edible.
Steppe oyster mushroom– grows at the base and on the roots of dead stems of some umbrella plants. Edible.
Oyster mushroom grows on poplar, beech, aspen. Also an edible fungus!
As a rule, “silent hunters” look for their prey on the ground and forest floor, and rarely do any of them pay attention to a mushroom growing on trees. However, among these macromycetes there are edible and very tasty ones. A mushroom that grows on trees is a priori considered unsuitable by most “quiet hunters”, unless it is a honey fungus.
Oyster mushroom
This macromycete is relatively known to mushroom pickers. Oyster mushroom - growing on it speaks for itself. The cap of the oyster mushroom is round and grows together like a fan. At first it is blue-gray or blue-gray, convex with curled edges, and then ear-shaped or funnel-shaped, with thin edges, matte, smooth, steel, ashy or yellowish-whitish. Oyster mushroom has fleshy, dense white flesh. Later it becomes greyish, hard and rubbery.
This mushroom, growing on a tree, is collected in May-June, as well as in the fall (before frost). It grows on stumps and deciduous trees (oak, rowan, willow, aspen, elm, birch). There are two forms of this mushroom: gray and light. Culinary characteristics are average.
Grifola curly
This macromycete is also called polypil oak grove, but it is popularly known as the ram mushroom. Its fruiting body is oval or spherical in shape, bushy-leaf-shaped, branched into many lobes-caps, and can grow up to a diameter of 80 cm. This mushroom, growing on trees, can reach a weight of 10 kg or more. These mushrooms growing on trees are rightfully considered one of the largest. Photos of curly griffola can be seen in this article.
Each cap-lobe of the macromycete is fibrous or radially wrinkled, often with wavy, uneven edges, with a matte and thin skin. It can have a gray, gray-ocher, brown-brown or yellowish-brown tint. Each cap has a fibrous, longitudinally pitted, lateral, eccentric, short stalk that fuses into a common base. The pulp is light, dense, elastic, but becomes tougher with age. It has a rare taste and a pleasant pungent smell.
This macromycete is collected in the period August-September in deciduous forests. Ram mushroom can be found on the bases of ancient oaks and sometimes maples. In the southern regions it often grows on chestnuts and beeches. There it can be collected until the first frost. In trees, this macromycete provokes the development of white rot. The ram mushroom is not only edible, it is also very tasty. Due to the fact that it gains a large mass, one copy can feed the whole family several times.
Sulfur-yellow tinder fungus
This mushroom, growing on trees, is conditionally edible only at a young age. Only those specimens that grow on deciduous trees can be eaten. Macromycetes that settle on coniferous plants can cause poisoning and hallucinations.
The fruiting body of the mushroom is thick, cantilevered, round, fan-shaped, uneven, attached sideways to the trunk. Its edge is oval and thick, and later wavy and thin. The color is orange, yellow or pink-orange. The pulp is juicy, whitish, elastic, later it becomes hard. It smells pleasant. This mushroom is harvested between May and September. The macromycete most often settles on old, dead or weakened oaks and pears).
