White mushroom: varieties, places of growth

Mushrooms have been collected for a long time. Even in the days of Ancient Rus in the summer-autumn season, entire families went to the forest to prepare these gifts for the whole winter. Gruzes, redheads, chanterelles and, of course, white mushrooms, which are very often mentioned in Russian proverbs, sayings, fairy tales.

White mushroom, the variety of which depends on where it grows, is used for food in any form: fried, stewed, boiled. It can be dried, marinated, canned. Most of the useful properties are retained. For example, the mushroom broth is much more useful than meat, and the dried white mushrooms are twice as high as chicken eggs. The substances in the white fungus have tonic and antitumor properties. His extract was once used to treat frostbite.

White mushrooms grow on almost any continent, except for Australia and Antarctica. They grow throughout the summer until late autumn, but not constantly, but by waves that depend on local and weather conditions. The first wave usually occurs at the end of June and the beginning of July. The most productive crop falls on the second half of August and the beginning of September. The third wave depends on unpredictable autumn weather and may not even come. White mushroom, the variety of which are diverse, does not grow very quickly. The time that passes from the development of the embryo to the mature fungus, on average, is about a week. And they grow, as a rule, families. Therefore, finding in this forest of this handsome man, it is worthwhile to look around at the sides: there will probably not be one more nearby.

They prefer to settle in birch or mixed forests. In a white mushroom, the color of the cap may be very different: brownish, light brown, sandy. With excess moisture, it can be a little mucous. Leg is thick, ovoid in shape, it extends somewhat with age, remaining thickened below. The flesh is white in color, but it may faint slightly on the cut. After drying, the bluish tint disappears, and the fungus again turns white.

The well-known Soviet scientist BP Vasilkov, who studied mushrooms and is the author of many scientific works, described 18 species of whites depending on the season, climate and other external conditions. It is considered that a white fungus, whose species may have various forms, belongs to the same species - Boletus edulis. However, some scientists who conducted similar studies believe that 4 of them are independent species.

Varieties of ceps

In our forests most often you can find the following subspecies:

• Dark bronze. Has a wrinkled dark hat of a variety of shades (brown, tobacco, dark brown, with a greenish tinge). He prefers to settle in a warm climate: beech, hornbeam or oak forests of southern or western regions.
• Reticulate. The hat is usually light shades (straw-buff, cream) with small cracks and scales in the center. Tubular layer is yellow. The leg is short, cylindrical in shape, with a clear mesh visible on it. Most often you can meet in the mountain oak or hornbeam forests.
• Oak (oak tree). This mushroom with a light brownish cap is sometimes treated as a separate species.
• Birch. The hat is brown on top, but it is also light (almost white). The leg is dense, clavate, with a mesh pattern. Tubular surface yellowish.
• Spruce. The hat is brown, with a slightly sharp form. Tubular surface of yellow shades. The white dense flesh of this fungus, which has a pleasant smell, does not change color when cut.
• Pine. Has a large brown hat (a purple tint is possible) and a brownish-red flesh.

Caution! Poison!

White mushroom, a variety of which are well known to experienced mushroom pickers, still has a dangerous double. This is a bile fungus (gorchak or bitter).

In appearance, these are ordinary white mushrooms. The photos of poisonous bile and edible white practically do not differ. But the difference is still there:

• The tubular layer of the bile fungus has a slightly pinkish tinge;
• Bile fungus usually grows at the base of trees or on stumps;
• The foot of the gorchak is covered with a darker mesh pattern;
• It has pores;
• It has a sharp bitter taste, which is easy to feel by touching it lightly with your tongue.

Despite the fact that this fungus is toxic, it contains medicinal substances. In folk medicine gorchak since ancient times has been used as a choleretic agent, which is why it got its name.