Chicken Fat Mushroom

not listed

not listed

not listed

Chicken Fat Mushroom is a widespread and very common “Slippery Jack” mushroom. It occurs in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. Isolated reports of it in the west might be misidentified specimens of Siberian Slippery Jack (Suillus sibiricus), a western species that grows under western white pine. Chicken Fat Mushroom is very common in the United States from the northeast to the Midwest, and in adjacent Canadian provinces. It is common Minnesota in the northeast, north-central, and metro regions. It is found from mid-July to mid-September in mixed and coniferous forests and anywhere else its host is found. It grows on the ground, usually in groups but not clustered, exclusively under eastern white pine. It obtains its nutrients from the rootlets of trees (mycorrhizal).

When young, the cap is bright yellow, convex, and slimy, and the margins are curled under. The cottony remnants of the partial veil are usually attached to the inside of the margin. As the mushroom matures the cap becomes broadly convex to flat, and sometimes has a small bump (umbo) in the middle. The mature cap is 1¼″ to 4″ in diameter, broadly convex, and sticky or slimy when moist. It frequently has reddish-brown scales, streaks, and/or patches, especially near the margin.

The stalk is slender, 1¼″ to 4″ long, ⅛″ to ⅜″ thick, and often crooked or bent. It is covered with reddish-brown glandular dots. On young specimens, the dots are not apparent because they the same color as the stalk. The stem usually does not show remnants of the veil because the veil hangs from the margin and does not touch the stalk.

There are no gills. The underside of the cap is a sponge-like pore surface. The pores are ¼″ to ⅜″ deep and have angular sides. The pore surface is yellow at first, darkening with age, and bruising brown.

The flesh is thin and yellow. It is edible but the taste is not distinctive, and the cap becomes slimy when moistened. After removing the slimy skin and the spongy pore surface, there is little left to enjoy.

The spore print is cinnamon brown.

Mixed and deciduous forests. On the ground under eastern white pine.

Mid-July to mid-September

Sources

4, 7, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

Widespread east of the Rocky Mountains. Common in Minnesota

The common name of the genus Suillus is “Slippery Jack”. This refers to the slimy cap, a characteristic shared by most mushrooms in the genus. The single outlier in Minnesota is Painted Suillus (Suillus spraguei).

my backyard

Mushroom

Young Mushroom

Cap

Pores

Stalk

Share your video of this mammal.

Location: Isanti County

my backyard