Yellowfoot

What it is

Yellowfoot is the English name the catalogue gives to Craterellus lutescens. The catalogue describes it as a slender, aromatic mushroom and as a tree-associated mycorrhizal fungus. Earlier records also place it under the name Cantharellus lutescens.

The species is brighter than its close relative. Field descriptions give an orange or whitish underside, called the hymenium, and a more vivid yellow-orange stem. One field guide says the hymenium is smooth or only slightly wrinkled, and that the species prefers calcareous soils.

Molecular studies have moved both this species and Craterellus tubaeformis from Cantharellus to Craterellus.

Habitat and look-alike

Field sources describe C. lutescens as usually found in wet places, while C. tubaeformis grows with conifers. The catalogue warns not to merge the two records.

The name C. tubaeformis has been applied to more than one genetic group. One source says the European and eastern North American group keeps the name tubaeformis, because the type specimens came from Sweden. The sources checked do not describe Nordic field identification of the two species.

Food use

The catalogue's food-use summary is a slender aromatic mushroom for cooking and drying. The sources checked describe this species and its close relative as edible and commercially gathered, without separating their food records.

The sources checked give no traditional preparation, no cooking method, no drying method and no regional name for this species.

Safety and identification

The species should be kept distinct from C. tubaeformis. Catalogue inclusion is not an edibility verdict.

Identification from colour or habitat alone is not established by these sources. Nothing on this page is an identification guide, and no one should treat the page as a basis for eating the fungus.