Willow

Symbiosis and mushrooms on willow wood

The willow family (Salicaceae) has unique ecological preferences, favoring waterlogged soils. In the «Key to the Fungi of Ukraine», M. Ya. Zerova notes that because of the high soil moisture, the range of the willow's mycorrhizal partners is fairly narrow but highly specific.

In his guide «Mushrooms», Roger Phillips singles out the main mushrooms associated with living willows:

1. Orange birch bolete (Leccinum versipelle): Despite often being called an "aspen bolete" in Ukraine, some species of this genus readily form mycorrhiza with willow. They have a characteristic orange-brown cap and black scales on the stem.

2. Webcaps (Cortinarius) and fibrecaps (Inocybe): A huge number of small and often poisonous mushrooms that colonize damp willow thickets en masse.

However, as David Arora stresses in «Mushrooms Demystified», the willow's main value for a forager lies not in mycorrhiza but in its relatively soft wood, which is ideal for saprotrophic (wood-decay) fungi. Old, fallen or broken willows by the water are the perfect substrate for:

- Velvet shank (Flammulina velutipes): This incredibly tasty mushroom with a honey-yellow cap appears on willows in late autumn and can grow even under snow during winter thaws.

- Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus): Old willow trunks are often thickly studded with the gray "ears" of edible oyster mushrooms, especially in the cool season.

- Chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureus): Often attacks living willows, producing large, soft, edible fruiting bodies in late spring and early summer.