Auriscalpium vulgare    S.F. Gray 

common name(s) : Earpick Fungus, Ear-Pick Fungus 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Incertae sedis/Russulales/Auriscalpiaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Aphyllophoromycetideae  

synonyms: Hydnum auriscalpium 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Pleurodon auriscalpium)  

edibility : inedible

photo gallery of Auriscalpium vulgare
photo gallery of Auriscalpium vulgare potential confusions with Auriscalpium vulgare toxicity of Auriscalpium vulgare genus Auriscalpium  

The cap is kidney-shaped or flat-convex, grey-brown, covered with brown to dark chestnut-brown hairs, with a lateral stem, brittle, downu, dark brown, slender.

The flesh is whitish, to almost the same colour as the skin; its taste is mild to slightly acrid; the odour is faint.

The fertile surface is made of spines. The spore print is white.

It grows on (buried) wood, in coniferous woods, mostly on pine cones, on a rather calcareous, but also acid soil, with pine, spruce.

The fruiting period takes place all year long.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 1.5 cm (between 0.5 and 2 cm)
  total height approximately 6 cm (between 1 and 14 cm)
  width of stem approximately 1.5 mm (between 0.1 and 3 mm)

Chemical tests : none.

Distinctive features : sorry, no English description yet

Auriscalpium vulgare is quite rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Auriscalpium vulgare in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Auriscalpium vulgare in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18