Gomphus floccosus (Schw.) Singer syn. Cantharellus floccosus Schw.Scaly Vase Chanterelle. Fruit body up to 20cm high by 1-3cm across at base; cap and stem forming at first a small cylindrical fruit body but soon expanding to form a deeply funnel-
shaped mushroom, hollow almost to base. Cap 3-15cm across; yellow-orange, ochre, or tawny; surface may be smooth to fibrillose or even coarsely scaly. Fertile undersurface broad, low ridges or wrinkles arranged longitudinally, covering almost the entire outer surface; bully ochre to slightly vinaceous or brownish where bruised. Stem white at base, pale cream to buff above, becoming yellowish with age and bruising brownish; smooth. Flesh firm; whitish. Spores cylindrical to ellipsoid, 11.5-20 x 6-10µ; surface roughened, with ornamentation of coarse warts and ridges up to 0.5µ high. Deposit dull ochre. Habitat often in rings, in mixed woods. Found over most of North America with the exception (perhaps) of the southwestern United States. Season June-September. Edible but not recommended; contains indigestible acids which are often sour. Comment Gomphus bonarii (Morse) Singer can look very similar in some of its forms, although it is usually a more reddish hue with paler, whitish hymenium. Both species vary in their scaliness, and microscopic examination is often necessary in difficult cases; the spores of Gomphus bonarii are less warty.