Edible
Yellowfoot
Craterellus tubaeformis
Small brown funnel cap over grayish false gills and a hollow yellow-orange stem.
Black Trumpet
Craterellus fallax
Edible
Also called horn of plenty, black chanterelle.
The black trumpet is a thin, hollow, funnel-shaped mushroom, gray to black, that blends into the leaf litter of eastern hardwood forests in summer and fall. Its outer surface is smooth to slightly wrinkled with no gills, and it has few close lookalikes.
The tell
Thin, hollow, gray-black trumpet with a smooth outer surface and no gills.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Trumpet- or vase-shaped, hollow all the way to the base, with a flared, wavy or split edge. The inside surface is dark gray-brown to black, often scaly or roughened.
- Underside
- Smooth to slightly wrinkled, with no gills or ridges. Gray to dark gray, often with a salmon or orange-yellow tint where spores have collected.
- Stem
- Not distinct; the trumpet narrows to a hollow base.
- Flesh
- Very thin, gray to black, and brittle when dry. Smell is mild to fragrant.
- Spore print
- Salmon to pale orange-buff.
- Size
- 1 to 3 inches wide at the top (2.5 to 8 cm); 1.5 to 4 inches tall (4 to 10 cm).
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- Hardwood forests, especially under oak and beech, often in moss, on bare soil along streams and on slopes.
- Grows on
- Soil and moss in leaf litter.
- Season
- Summer to fall in the East, usually July to October.
- Range
- Eastern North America; the black trumpets of the West Coast, which fruit in winter, are a different species, Craterellus calicornucopioides.
Lookalikes
What the black trumpet gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Devil's urn (Urnula craterium)
A black cup fungus that grows on fallen hardwood sticks in early spring. It is tough and leathery, with a thicker, felty outer surface.
Fragrant black trumpet (Craterellus foetidus)
Similar in color and shape but with distinct, vein-like wrinkles on the outer surface, and it often grows in fused clusters.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible
Field guides list the black trumpet as a choice edible, and it has few dangerous lookalikes because of its hollow, gill-less trumpet shape. Older guides call it Craterellus cornucopioides, a European name; eastern North American black trumpets with salmon spore prints are now called Craterellus fallax.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the black trumpet
Are black trumpet mushrooms poisonous?
Field guides list black trumpets as a choice edible and record no toxic species with the same thin, hollow, gill-less trumpet shape. They are widely sold dried.
Where do black trumpets grow?
On the ground in eastern hardwood forests, especially under oak and beech, from July to October. They favor moss, bare soil along streams and slopes, and often grow in groups.
Why are black trumpets hard to find?
Their gray-black color blends into dark leaf litter and shadow, so they are easy to miss even when abundant.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Craterellus fallax
MushroomExpert.com
- Black Trumpet
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Craterellus fallax
Index Fungorum
Also on Mushrooms.id
Related species
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