Reddish wood ear

Overview

Reddish wood ear, Auricularia fuscosuccinea, is a jelly-textured fungus that grows on wood in tropical forests. The catalogue records it as a wild food with use in Brazil, Peru and Colombia.

The species belongs to Auricularia, the wood ear genus. The catalogue keeps the name as a research name and does not treat it as a reconciled accepted name.

Names and taxonomy

The catalogue lists reddish wood ear as the English label and records no further alias. Older or regional names were not found in the sources reviewed in this pass.

The catalogue states that documented occurrence and consumption do not establish a standardized food-safety assessment.

Food use in the Neotropics

Colombian records describe use by Uitoto and other Amazonian indigenous peoples, who cook the fungus in fish broth with meat, maraca seeds and mafafa leaves. A separate Colombian record notes rural communities in Boyaca serving it with chili.

The Brazilian food-use evidence in the catalogue is described as Indigenous Amazonian and other Brazilian use. The sources reviewed do not name the people or dish, so this page does not assign a specific Brazilian preparation.

Cultivation

A study funded by FAPESP produced basidiomata, the fruiting bodies, from two wild Brazilian strains of this species. That is a laboratory cultivation result. The sources do not describe commercial production.

Distribution and status

The IUCN assessment places the species in the Amazon Forest, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado of Brazil, and records it mostly in the Atlantic Forest, a biodiversity hotspot where it is under pressure.

The catalogue lists supply as unknown, so it does not say whether the mushroom is gathered wild or from cultivation.

Identification and safety

This page is not an identification guide. Documented food use and occurrence do not establish that the species is safe to eat in any preparation, and the catalogue does not supply a toxicity assessment.

Do not eat a wild fungus on the basis of this page. Confirm identity with an expert before eating any wild fungus.

Open questions

The sources do not name the Brazilian Amazonian peoples who eat this species, do not describe preparation methods in Brazil, and do not establish how widely the fungus is eaten. Identity of the Colombian name match also needs confirmation against the taxonomic authority.