Lobster Mushroom
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Lobster Mushrooms (Hypomyces Lactifluorum) are a singular type of mushroom.
They are called parasitic mushrooms, created when another fungus growns on the Russula or Lactarius mushroom.
It is equally as accurate, though not mushroom speak, to label them metamorphized mushrooms. The bottom up view of the lobster mushroom shows the end result of a metamorphic process that creates a non-gilled mushroom from a gilled mushroom.
Their bright orange color insures easy identification in the wild. Normally the top of the mushroom cap protrudes slightly above soil height, covered by leaves or other forest ground cover.
Lobster mushrooms are common in many areas of the United States. They are ground growers, easy to find on forest edges near paths and roads. In some coastal mountain areas of the Pacific Northwest, you can literally find hundreds growing on the edges of a two mile loop trail.
They are considered a choice edible, although all mycologists recommend caution harvesting them in the wild. It is not always easy to determine the original host species.
© 2007 Patricia A. Michaels