Spruce

Mycorrhizal partners of the spruce forest

The root system of spruce is shallow and highly branched, which makes it an ideal partner for ectomycorrhiza. In her "Key to the Fungi of Ukraine", M.Ya. Zerova counts spruce among the key forest-forming species linked to the most valuable mushrooms of coniferous forests.

Roger Phillips describes the most important edible species that form mycorrhiza with spruce:

1. Spruce porcini (Boletus edulis): This is the classic, typical porcini (as opposed to the pine or oak forms). It has a brown cap, often with a whitish margin, and fruits in abundance in mature spruce forests in late summer and fall.

2. False saffron milk cap (Lactarius deterrimus): A little smaller and greener than its pine cousin, but just as tasty. It grows only under spruce, often forming large colonies in young plantations.

3. Slimy spike (Gomphidius glutinosus): A distinctive edible mushroom covered in a thick layer of slime, with gray gills. It often grows in symbiosis with spruce, and sometimes parasitizes the mycelium of local boletes.

4. Chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius): Spruce forests with thick moss are a favorite place for chanterelles to fruit en masse.

David Arora warns that spruce forests hide serious dangers. Spruce is one of the main partner trees of the destroying angel (Amanita virosa) — a dazzling white, deadly poisonous mushroom that contains the same toxins as the death cap. The poisonous fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) is also common under spruce.

Saprotrophs on spruce wood

Dead spruce wood is a great substrate for many species of bracket fungi (for example, Fomitopsis pinicola — the red-belted conk), as well as for autumn honey fungus (Armillaria).