Cantharellus macrocarpus

A large yellow chanterelle from southern China

Cantharellus macrocarpus is a large chanterelle with a yellow to orange cap, well-developed branched ridges, and a cream to pale-yellow stipe. Its caps are reported at 10 to 16 centimetres across. It was described in 2021 from tropical Hainan, and the species is recognised in the 2025 treatment of Chinese chanterelles as a distinct lineage.

The ridges separate it from the large C. magnus, which has a smooth hymenophore. These features come from taxonomic literature and are not a visual safety key.

Names and classification

The 2021 description placed the species in Cantharellaceae. Newer Chinese treatments place it in Hydnaceae, which reflects different family boundaries rather than a different species. The 2026 national catalogue gives the Chinese name 大果鸡油菌, which means large-fruited chanterelle.

Where and when it has been collected

The sources place the species in Hainan and Guangxi in southern China. The 2025 treatment lists collections at Jianfenglin National Nature Reserve in Ledong County, Hainan, at about 950 metres, in June and July, and in Yulin City, Guangxi, in August. A media interview with the species author places collections in the Bawangling sector of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, in May, July and August.

These records show June to August collections across the named localities. They are not a complete seasonal range, and no specimen coordinates were published in the sources read.

Food status and safety

The 2026 Chinese national catalogue of edible and medicinal fungi lists C. macrocarpus as edible. That entry is a catalogue classification. It is not a toxicological study of the species, and it does not describe any traditional dish or market practice for it.

The 2023 media interview relays an expert's inference from the wider genus. It is not species-level safety testing. Do not identify or eat a wild mushroom from a photograph or from this page. Identification of chanterelles depends on specialist examination, and confusion with other fungi is possible.

Culinary use

No species-specific culinary tradition, preparation method or market volume was located in the sources read. The page therefore records the species' listed food status without describing how it is cooked or preserved.

Open questions

Still open are the primary text of the 2021 description, which was not fully accessible; the figure credits for the species photographs; and any study of the species' food use or toxicity. The reuse licence for the Hainan Daily photograph has not been established, and permission is needed before any product reuse.