Otidea onotica (Pers.) Fuckel
donkey-ears
Pyronemataceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
donkey-ears
Pyronemataceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
{See also Otidea Table.} Otidea onotica is characterized by a comparatively large, spoon-shaped to ear-shaped fruitbody that is ochraceous yellow to yellow brown, usually with pink to rose tints, dots, or stains on the fresh inner spore-bearing surface, a short whitish base, growth in coniferous or hardwood forests, and microscopic characters including the spore dimensions.
Odor:
none in particular (Lincoff)
Taste:
none in particular (Lincoff)
Microscopic:
spores 12-14 x 6-8 microns, elliptic, smooth, with 2 oil droplets; paraphyses strongly hooked, (Arora), spores (9)11-12(13) x (5.5)6(8.5) microns, smooth, with 2 oil droplets; asci 8-spored, inamyloid; paraphyses slender, colorless, typically strongly curved at tip, (Castellano), spores 12-14 x 6-7(8) microns, elliptic, smooth, colorless or colored faintly yellowish, with 2 droplets, obliquely 1-seriate; asci 160-200 x 9-11 microns, inamyloid; paraphyses filiform, usually strongly hooked, frequently forked in lower part, (Kanouse), 11-14 x 6-7.5 microns (Hansen), spores (10)12-13 x 5-6 microns, rather broadly elliptic, with 2 oil drops; asci up to 250 x 10 microns; paraphyses slender 3 microns thick, curved at tip, (Dennis), spores (11)12-13.5(14) x (5.5)6-7 microns, elliptic to broadly elliptic, smooth, colorless, inequilateral, with two large droplets; asci 138-233 x 9.5-12 microns; paraphyses "curved to hooked, of the same width or slightly broader at apices", 2.5-4.5 microns wide, "without notches or rarely with a slightly swollen area on the underside", when fresh containing small, refractive, light yellow droplets, when dried colorless to pale yellow droplets; external surface with conic warts 85-105 microns high, "formed by short, fasciculate hyphoid hairs, of 2-3 subglobose to elongated cells, constricted at septa", 11-14 microns wide; resinous exudates on exterior abundant, yellow, dissolving into amber drops in Melzer''s reagent; basal mycelium turning yellow in KOH, (Olariaga(1))
Notes:
It is found in WA, OR, ID, CA, and CO, (Larsen), MI and NH, (Kanouse), WA, OR, MI, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, (Olariaga(1)). There are collections from BC at the University of British Columbia and at the Pacific Forestry Centre.
EDIBILITY
edible according to some but one study revealed the presence of the toxin MMH, (Arora)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Otidea leporina is smaller and less brightly colored (Kanouse), and spores are wider. See also SIMILAR section of Otidea concinna and Otidea unicisa.Habitat
"scattered or more often in groups or clusters under both hardwoods and conifers", winter and spring in California, (Arora), associated with forests dominated by Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir), (Castellano), gregarious, often cespitose, on the ground, usually in conifer forests, (Kanouse), in rich soil in hardwood forests (Hansen for north Europe), on ground in woods, especially Quercus (oak), (Dennis), prefers the company of hardwoods (Harmaja), summer and fall (Bacon)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Hydnum ochraceum Pers. in J.F. Gmelin
Hydnum rhois Schwein.: Fr.