This is the first such find in half a century
A gigantic and very rare ram mushroom, listed in the Red Book of Russia, was found in the Kishert district of the Kama region. This is the first find in the region in 50 years, the last time such a mushroom was found in the 70s in the Dobryansky district. He had 130 hats. And the new find is even larger, the fruiting body of this mushroom consists of 250 caps with legs connected in one bunch, and it weighs 2.5 kilograms.
- Officially, the mushroom is called the umbrella tinder fungus (Polyporus umbellatus), but the people call it the ram mushroom, because the uneven and wavy edges of the caps resemble the skin of a ram, - said Lidia Perevedentseva, professor at the Department of Botany and Plant Genetics at Perm State National Research University. - This mushroom prefers deciduous forests, grows on stumps and fallen trunks, and is rarely found even in the more southern regions of Russia, and finding it in the Perm Territory is a great success. If you see it, don't cut it. Firstly, the tinder fungus is listed in the Red Book, and secondly, although it is not poisonous, it has a very specific taste. Better report your find to the university.
The tinder fungus found in the Kishert region was photographed, after which a part of the fruiting body was cut off from it, which would not damage the mushroom. The resulting sample was dried and transferred to the museum of the Faculty of Biology, Perm State National Research University. Now any student and guest of the university will be able to see the "ram skin".
SERGEY TRETYAKOV