Black Trumpet Craterellus fallax Smith Black Trumpet. Fruit body a trumpet-shaped mushroom with the opening recurved back, margin often wavy, irregular; inner surface dry, finely scaly, gray to dark blackish brown when wet. Fertile undersurface smooth to irregularly veined; pale brown to gray with a whitish bloom when young, soon developing a flush of salmon pink with age. Flesh thin, brittle; gray-brown. Odor fragrant, reminiscent of apricots. Taste similar. Spores broadly ellipsoid, smooth, 10-20 x 7-11.5µ. Deposit ochre-buff to pale orange. Habitat under mixed deciduous trees. Common and abundant. Found throughout North America. Season July-October. Edible-delicious. Comment The very similar but much rarer Craterellus cornucopiodes (L. ex Fr.) Pers. has a white spore print and does not develop the salmon-colored flush to the fruit body. |