Cotylidia aurantiaca

Overview

Cotylidia aurantiaca is a wild fungus of the forest. The catalogue records it from Tshopo province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where local people named it in voucher-backed interviews as a mushroom they eat. It has no common name in the record.

The catalogue uses the scientific name as a research label and has not checked it against a current accepted name.

Ecology

Cotylidia aurantiaca is recorded as a forest saprotroph, a fungus that breaks down dead wood and litter. It grows on wood and forest debris rather than in a symbiosis with a tree, which is why its supply depends on fallen timber in the forest.

The record gives no abundance, seasonality or harvest pattern for the species.

Local use

The interviews record Cotylidia aurantiaca as locally consumed. The species-specific preparation was not established, so this page gives no recipe, cooking time or storage practice. The wider Tshopo survey places wild mushrooms within local food and medicine practice, and it notes that knowledge of them varies between people and communities.

Safety and identification

The food-use record is ethnomycological. It is not an independent toxicological assessment and does not show that the species is safe to eat. Its local use does not settle whether a specimen is this species.

Catalogue inclusion is not an identification verdict and this page must not be used to identify a mushroom for eating. Wild fungi should be identified with local expertise and a reference that covers look-alikes. Appearance, smell and taste do not establish safety.

What is still unknown

The record leaves open the accepted name, the preparation, the seasonality, the distribution beyond Tshopo and any toxicity data. A next step is a voucher-backed name check against current taxonomic authorities.