Pig's ear or Wood hedgehog

Fruiting body funnel-shaped or spatula-like, 4-15 cm tall and wide, with an uneven wavy or deeply cleft edge. It often grows as a cluster of “ears” fused on a common base. Upper surface color: young ones are violet-lilac, turning purplish brown to brown with age; the center is darker, the edge paler. The surface is smooth, faintly shiny in wet weather and matte in dry.

The cap is 4-15 cm across, irregular, with an unevenly wavy margin; convex in young mushrooms, flat and spread out in mature ones, with a lumpy surface and a depressed center. The color is ivory, cream, ochre-yellow to light orange, turning reddish-brown in old mushrooms. The surface is dry and silky-suede, slightly sticky in wet weather. The cap skin is thin and peels easily.

The hymenophore is not gilled and not tubed — it consists of folds and wrinkles running down the “stem”, uneven, forked and blunt (like a chanterelle's but coarser). Color violet-lilac to purplish brown, paler than the top of the cap. Spore print yellowish ocher.

The spiny hymenophore is the key diagnostic feature. Under the cap there are densely packed thin, pointed spines 3-6 mm long that break off easily. The spines are white to cream, yellowing with age and turning reddish-ochre in old mushrooms. The spore print is white.

There is no separate stem — the fruiting body is one piece, funnel-shaped. The lower part narrows into a sterile base 2-5 cm high, the color of the hymenophore or slightly paler.

The stem is 3-8 cm tall and 1-3 cm thick, cylindrical, often widening toward the base, sometimes eccentric (off-center from the cap). It's white to cream, yellowing slightly where pressed. The surface is smooth, with no ring. The stem flesh is firm, becoming spongy in old mushrooms.

The flesh is whitish to yellowish, firm in young ones, fibrous in old ones. It doesn't change color when cut. It has a pleasant, mild taste.

The flesh is thick, white, firm and brittle. When cut, it slowly turns pale ochre (a slight yellowing). Young mushrooms have a delicate, pleasant nutty flavor; mature ones have a slightly bitter aftertaste that disappears after brief boiling.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy smell, sometimes with a fruity note. The taste is mild, with nothing sharp.

A faint, pleasant mushroomy-fruity aroma with a note of fresh nuts. The taste is mild and delicate; slightly bitter in old mushrooms.