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Ascocorine meat, or corine, is a species of the Helocyae family, the representatives of which are numerous and are characterized for the most part by small or microscopic organisms. In mycology, the fungus is known as Ascocoryne, or Coryne, sarcoides, Bulgaria, or Chlorospleniella, or Sarcodea sarcoides, Helvella purpurea or sarcoides.
In addition to these names, there are other, less common, definitions of meat coryne in Latin: Ombrophila, or Lichen, or Octospora, or Tremella sarcoides, Peziza porphyria, or tremelloidea, or sarcoides.
Many ascomycetes, or marsupial fungi, of the family, like this species, feed on dead wood.
Externally, the colonies of ascocorine meat are bright, although small growths on dead wood
Where does meat askokorine grow
Woody marsupial mushrooms of the species are most often found collected in concretions, where one fruiting body is closely pressed against another and because of this it is deformed. Colonies of ascocorine meat are always found on old rotten deciduous wood, especially on birch:
- on rotten logs;
- fallen trunks;
- stumps.
The settlements are large. Their size is explained by the method of reproduction with the help of conidia, processes from the fruiting body, which are immobile spores due to indirect cell division. Solitary mushrooms are very rarely found. Colonies of Ascocorine Meat are formed from late summer to early winter. In regions with mild winters, the fruit bodies of the species develop during the cold period, and are also found at the end of February. Corine meat is distributed in areas with temperate climates throughout Eurasia, as well as in North America.
What does meat askokorine look like?
One fruiting body develops from a lobed or spherical initial shape to formations similar to a flat bowl or funnel. Miniature sizes:
- diameter up to 10 mm;
- height from 6 to 12 mm.
The fruiting body of the meat species does not have a hat as such. The fungus is on a short false stalk that feeds on the substrate. The color of the skin and flesh is pink-purple, can be reddish or gray-lilac, resembling minced meat. The outer surface of the fruiting body is slightly fleecy. Inside - smooth or slightly folded. The color is the same on both sides.
Ascocorine meat goes through two phases of development. At first, ligulate conidia, no longer than 1 cm in size, can form on the fruiting body, which in ascomycetes serve for asexual budding. Over time, under favorable conditions, new fungal bodies are created from conidia, thus forming small-sized colonies of a meat species.
At the second stage of development, mushrooms turn into saucer-shaped - up to 3 cm. Prominent clusters are quite extensive in area. The pulp is gel-like, odorless. With age, the colony becomes more vague and gelatinous. The outlines of the edges of individual mushrooms are lost, which merge with each other, turning into a shapeless mass while maintaining a pink-purple hue. The mass of spores is white.
As the fruit bodies in clusters creep on top of each other, they are deformed, becoming a brain-like flat formation of a pink-red hue
Is it possible to eat meat ascocorine
The mushroom is considered inedible both because of the extremely small volume of fruit bodies, and because of the insufficiently studied properties of the pulp. In addition, lilac-pink clusters on old wood have an unpleasant consistency and an unattractive appearance. The results of recent studies were the conclusion about the absence of toxic substances in the pulp of meat ascocoryne, as well as in the fruit bodies of the twin - Ascocoryne cylichnium (ascocoryne cilichnium). These woody mushrooms are very similar, they can only be distinguished by specialists at the microscopic level.
Ascocorine cilichnium, or goblet, - the same small formation on decaying wood
There is information from some sources that when studying meat coryne about 10 years ago, they found out interesting facts about the properties of the species:
- volatile substances are formed in the pulp, which are called "mycodiesel", because in the content of octanes, carbon alcohols and ketones they resemble automobile fuel;
- about the detection of an antibiotic in the pulp, which has an overwhelming effect on gram-positive bacteria.
Conclusion
Ascocorine meat is a rather rare tree fungi of the temperate climatic zone. Small fruiting bodies of a bright color of the species do not represent any culinary interest, although they are not poisonous.
