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Belongs to the fun family. This inedible mushroom does not look like its edible, well-known relatives to us. Unlike boletus or porcini mushroom, mutinus has neither the usual hat nor the fruit legs.
Mushroom Growth Stages
Mutinus caninus goes through several changing stages of development. Initially, it is only a fruiting body. Inside it is a gelatinous mass, in the very center of which a fruit "leg" is formed. The fruiting body itself at this stage has a diameter of up to three centimeters. It is light or slightly yellowish.
Then, as the upper cover, called the peridium, grows, it breaks into several pieces. Usually two or three. These parts fall to the base of the receptacles. A recipe is a leg-shaped formation of light yellow or dim orange. It is about 10-12 centimeters long, and its diameter is one centimeter. The receptacle ends with a sharp peak, on which there is no hat. Inside it is hollow, its walls are composed of spongy matter. The top is covered with gleb - this is a slime of dark olive color, which contains the spores of the fungus.
Another feature of this representative is the smell of carrion that exudes this mucus. This is what attracts insects that carry fungal spores on their legs and abdomen. After pollination and transmission of spores to the fungus, it no longer makes sense to exist, so the destruction of the fruiting body begins. At the same time, the top of the mushroom changes color to bright orange. The completely fruiting body of the canine mutinus disappears after three to four days.
Prevalence and seasonality
It grows more often one at a time, less often you can find a group arrangement. This mushroom loves to live in humid places, it can often be seen in rotting wood or humus soils. The period from the last decade of June to October is the period of ripening of fruiting bodies.
Similar mushrooms
Due to obvious differences from the representatives of the kingdom of mushrooms, familiar to all, the canine mutinus is difficult to confuse with them. However, they are similar to a rather close species - Mutinus ravenelii. This fungus is even less common than Mutinus caninus, and is also inedible. You can distinguish the mutinus of Ravenelli from the canine one by the bright red and white color.
Relatively similar fungus is the common jolly, which is part of the same family as the mutins. However, Phallus impudicus, an ordinary funky, has an obvious hat. Veselka, by the way, is edible, but only at a young age.
Edible or poisonous?
People are used to eating mushrooms. Is it possible to eat canine mutinus? Experts say for sure that in the second stage, the "adult" fruiting body is inedible and dangerous to eat. But there is no evidence of edibility at a young age. Perhaps someday there will be experimenters who want to test the hypothesis of the possibility of eating young fruiting bodies of Mutinus caninus. However, today it is officially an inedible mushroom. Experts warn against the use of canine mutinus as a food product.
Creation of nature
Red Book
Back in the days of the Soviet Union, mutinus was listed in the Red Book. Some experts believe that this happened due to insufficient study of this problem. About three decades ago, scientists tried to resume work on the topic of mutinus, but no global studies have been conducted.
To date, canine mutinus is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and many regional Red Books. In pure culture, it is maintained in the collection of the Botanical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Video: canine mutinus (Mutinus caninus)
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