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Excerpts from Jim Conrad's
Naturalist Newsletter
from the May 31, 2018 Newsletter issued from Rancho Regenesis in the woods ±4kms west of Ek Balam Ruins; elevation ~40m (~130 ft), N~20.876°, W~88.170°; central Yucatán, MÉXICO
MUSHROOM FRUSTRATION
Most of the year the Yucatan is too arid to produce many mushrooms, but now with the advent of the rainy season occasionally some nice ones show up. For example, this week a pretty one emerged from the rotting wood of one of my plant beds, shown below:
The flesh was soft and pliable, and the caps were notable for their depressed or sunken centers, their being covered with short hairs and dark-tipped scales, and for their slightly violet color. Below, you can see another important feature for identification, along with my thumb tip indicating the size:
Notice how the gills extend partway down the stems, which are a little bulbous toward their bases. Having such gills separates this species from most gilled fungi, and directs us toward the vicinity of the famously edible Chanterelles we used to eat so many of back in Mississippi. You can see the present species' similarity to the Mississippi Chanterelles at www.backyardnature.net/n/x/cibarius.htm
The violet color barely detectable in these mature mushrooms manifests much more intensely in immature one right beside those shown above, as you can see below:
Having all that information and an obviously distinctive mushroom, now the frustration begins. For, the fungi simply are not much known in this part of the world, and no effective means exist to identify them. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that fungal spores travel enormous distances on wind, so even the rarest species might turn up in unexpected places.
On the Internet I found a picture of one species fairly matching our own. It grew in Europe, in a climate very different from ours, and was described as growing on wood, though it wasn't clear whether the wood was living or decaying. That species -- which seems to occur over most of the planet -- was identified as Cantharellus melanoxeros, and you can see how similar it is to our Yucatan one at http://www.fichasmicologicas.com/?micos=1&alf=C&art=375
On the Internet I'm filing our purplish, Chanterelle-like mushroom, under the name "aff. Cantharellus melanoxeros." The prefix "aff." is a standard taxonomical abbreviation used when you wish to say that you don't really know what the name is, but it seems to show an "affinity" to this species. Maybe someday an expert studying tropical members of the genus Cantharellus will Google up my page and write us telling us what it really is.