Yellowfoot

The mushroom is mostly yellow with a grayish-brown cap. The cap is 1–4 centimetres (1⁄2–1+1⁄2 inches) wide, generally flat with a depressed center, funnel-shaped, waxy, with a wavy margin, and mild odor and taste. The gills are shallow, decurrent, forked, and pale. The hollow stalk is 2–12 cm (1–4+1⁄2 in) tall and 1 cm or less wide. It has a very distinctive smokey, peppery taste when raw. The spores are whitish, elliptical, and smooth. The spore print is light orangish-pink. It usually fruits later than other mushrooms, sometimes near Hydnum repandum. It usually grows in large groups.

Similar species. Cantharellus cibarius (the golden chanterelle) is larger, yellow, and funnel-shaped. It has a weaker but more fruity taste than C. tubaeformis.

The edible Craterellus lutescens has wrinkled hymenium without gills, differs slightly in colour and is found only in very wet places. Craterellus odoratus is bright yellow with a seamless cap and stem. Also similar are Cantharellus californicus and Cantharellus formosus (Pacific golden chanterelle).

It grows in temperate and cold parts of North America (near both coasts) and Europe, including Scandinavia, Finland, Russia, and the British Isles, as well as in the Himalayas in Asia, including Assam, in the central parts of the Indian subcontinent, and in Thailand. Growing in large groups, it is most common in forests with a large amount of well-rotted coarse woody debris, growing on moss or rotten wood, and in North America mostly in conifer bogs. In the Pacific Northwest, it can be found from November to January.

The species is mycorrhizal (forming symbiotic associations with plants), providing an obstacle to its cultivation. The western North American C. tubaeformis has been shown to make ectomycorrhizal relationships with western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii).

Though small, the mushroom is choice. It can be eaten with meat, in soups, pasta, and other dishes.