Birch red cap
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Birch red cap ( Leccinum versipelle ) |
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| Leccinum versipelle | ||||||||||||
| ( Fr. & Hök ) Snell |
The birch red cap ( Leccinum versipelle , syn .: Leccinum testaceoscabrum nom. Nud.), Also known as heather red cap or black-scaly red cap , is a type of mushroom from the family of thick tubers relatives .
features
The "Frauenschwammerl", as the red cap is also called in Bavaria, can be more than 20 cm high. The hat diameter varies between 6 and 20 cm and has a brick-like color, ranging from yellow-orange to reddish brown. When young it is hardly wider than the stem, but then spreads out in a flat-convex manner. The hat skin is fine-felted and dry, only after prolonged rain it becomes greasy and sticky. At the edge it clearly overlaps the tube pad. The tubes are yellowish or greyish when young and lighten somewhat with age. The stem is whitish and covered with the black-brown scales typical of the genus. The flesh is whitish, but turns gray-violet after cutting, at the base of the handle more blue-green. It turns completely black after a while. The smell and taste are pleasant. The spores are elongated and spindle-shaped, measure 12-16 × 4-5 micrometers and are brownish.
Species delimitation
The birch red cap cannot be confused with any toadstool , at most with other edible boletus. The aspen red cap ( L. leucopodium ) and the oak red cap ( L. aurantiacum ) are particularly similar . The birch red cap differs from these in the purple-gray discoloration of the meat when cut. In the two types mentioned, the meat turns reddish before it turns completely black.
Ecology and phenology
The birch red cap is a mycorrhizal fungus . It occurs in community with birch, especially white birch ( Betula pendula ), from June to October. It prefers heather-like landscapes with birch and mossy or acidic soils overgrown with common heather (sandy / sandy loam soil). In coniferous forests, it occurs in younger spruce and pine forests with interspersed birch trees. Most of the birch trees are not older than 25 years. If - as in 2004 - a favorable, humid summer climate sets in early in the year, short-term mass occurrences occur. Later - despite the favorable conditions - only a few birch red caps grow. If there is no damp weather in early summer or summer, the birch red cap grows only sparingly in such years. That is why many mushroom books complain about an alleged decline in the Heiderot cap - certainly with a view to past dry summers.
meaning
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Food value
Their meat, like that of the birch mushrooms, turns gray to black when cut and cooked. For this reason, this mushroom is not eaten by some, although it is otherwise an excellent edible mushroom . This discoloration does not reduce the food value in any way. In contrast to the birch mushroom, the red cap also has the advantage that it is rarely attacked by maggots. Like many other mushrooms, the birch red cap is poisonous when raw. Some mushroom guides recommend a minimum cooking time of 15 minutes. The mushroom should lose its firmness when cooked. Occasionally there are intolerances.
Children's book
The red cap achieved a certain fame in the children's book Neues vom Räuber Hotzenplotz by Otfried Preussler . There, Kasperl and Seppel cheat the robber Hotzenplotz that instead of red cap he had eaten poisonous mushrooms that would tear him apart from the inside. Hotzenplotz gets scared and lets Kasperl and Seppel tie his stomach up with ropes. Before he notices, they tie him to the armchair in which he is sitting. A little later police sergeant Dimpfelmoser arrives and arrests him.
literature
- RM Dähncke: 200 mushrooms. 5th edition, Verlag Aargauer Tagblatt, Aarau 1992, ISBN 3-85502-145-7
- E. Gerhardt: Mushrooms. Verlag BLV, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-8354-0053-5
