I have chanterelles growing on my land. Most of the ones I find are generally small. Whenever I find a large one, invariably it’s barely visible, covered in leaf litter. The smaller ones tend to grow on top of the litter and are easily spotted.
I thought that maybe what was happening was that, as I was taking longer to find the hidden ones, they had more time to grow, so I did an experiment. I stopped picking the smaller ones, checking them daily to see if they grew any more. They didn’t.
It looks like most chanterelles seem to sprout to their full final size almost instantly. Is that the case?
I’m intrigued about the whole thing, so any info on the matter is welcome.
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They are actually fairly slow growing compared to a lot of mushrooms, taking several days to even a few weeks to reach full size, depending on conditions.
I think the most likely explanation is that leaf litter helps keep them moist, allowing those that are covered to reach their full potential, while those that emerge above it end up stunted at whatever size they are when they first “break through.” This is especially likely if you live in a place that does not receive daily rain during the fruiting season.
This could possibly be tested by covering a small one with moist leaves and marking the spot, to see if it will grow more (although if it’s already had a chance to dry out enough to stop growing, the damage may already be done - I don’t know whether it would restart again.)
Another possibility would be that you have two distinct species of chanterelles growing intermingled, a larger variety that stays under the leaves, and a smaller variety that pushes above them into the open. (Just a thought, without knowing where you live or which types of chanterelles could be found there.)
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Thanks. You raise some interesting points.
The species is Cantharellus cibarius.
I’m in Portugal, and it rains almost daily at the moment, so I’m not sure the moisture theory applies. In any case, I will experiment with covering the small ones to see what happens.
Last year, I monitored the small ones for periods exceeding 10 days, and I didn’t really see much growth compared to when I first spotted them, maybe 15% growth max.
I’m guessing that the most likely cause is, as you say, different varieties but I’m pretty certain that they are all Cantharellus cibarius. Are there any sub-classifications within that?
Not that I know of in Europe, but mycologists are constantly splitting species that were formerly considered the same, so it’s certainly possible.
Many of our North American chanterelle species used to be considered Cantharellus cibarius until DNA testing revealed them to be separate species.
I agree, if it’s raining daily, drying out is not a likely explanation after all.
You have a mystery!