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Larch

Larch — mushrooms with the trait «Larch»

The larch (Larix) is a unique conifer that sheds its needles for the winter. Larch forests and plantations are bright, and the ground beneath them is covered with a soft carpet of rust-colored needles. For a forager, this tree is a classic example of narrow, strict mycorrhizal specialization.

7 species in the database.

The larch's obligate mycorrhizal partners

In her "Key to the Fungi of Ukraine," M. Ya. Zerova emphasizes that the larch's mycorrhizal network is so specific that most mushrooms growing under it are not found under any other conifer (neither pine nor spruce).

In his guide "Mushrooms," Roger Phillips describes this tree's best-known and most striking companions:

1. Larch bolete (Suillus grevillei): This is the absolute, textbook marker of the larch. The mushroom has a bright lemon-yellow or orange slimy cap. It is an obligate (mandatory) symbiont of the larch and never grows without it.

2. Gomphidius maculatus: Another highly specialized mushroom. It has a slimy cap and gills that blacken with age. It often grows side by side with the larch bolete and even parasitizes its mycelium.

3. Sticky bolete (Suillus viscidus): A rarer Suillus with a dirty-gray or greenish cap, which also forms mycorrhiza only with the larch.

In "Mushrooms Demystified," David Arora notes that under larches you can also come across some more widespread conifer mushrooms (for example, certain brittlegills or saffron milk caps), but they always play second fiddle to the Suillus species.

Saprotrophs on larch wood

Larch wood is extraordinarily dense, resinous and rot-resistant (it's what the piles under Venice were made of). So wood-decaying saprotrophic fungi colonize it very reluctantly. Only specialized bracket fungi (for example, the agarikon — Fomitopsis officinalis) can break through its defenses, but in ordinary forests they are extremely rare.

Questions and answers

Why doesn't the larch bolete grow under pines?
Each Suillus species (genus Suillus) has evolved to fit the chemistry of the roots of a particular tree genus. The larch bolete (S. grevillei) "understands" only the chemical signals from larch roots. Pines have their own species (for example, the slippery jack — S. luteus).
Can you find porcini under a larch?
Yes, but it's rare. Porcini (Boletus edulis) are ecologically very flexible, yet larch plantations aren't their favorite habitat. They prefer pines, spruces or oaks.
How do you tell the larch bolete from the slippery jack?
The larch bolete has a very bright, often lemon-yellow or deep orange cap and pores, while the slippery jack (the pine one) usually has a dark chocolate or brown cap and yellowish pores. Beyond that, the tree you found them under is the deciding factor.
Are there deadly poisonous mushrooms under larches?
Although the death cap (Amanita phalloides) and the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) gravitate toward other trees, in mixed forests (where larch grows next to birch or oak) there is always a risk of them appearing. So the safety rules still apply.

Sources

  1. 1.Зерова М.Я. та ін. Визначник грибів України. 1979
  2. 2.Roger Phillips. Mushrooms (Roger Phillips)
  3. 3.David Arora. Mushrooms Demystified
  4. 4.Index Fungorum