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Harmless🍽️ Edible

🍄 Horn of Plenty

Craterellus cornucopioides · Cantharellaceae

🌳 Temperate Europe🏔️ Mountains🍁 North America
🧠 To remember it“All-black trumpet, no gills or pores” — the safest mushroom to identify in the European undergrowth.
Horn of Plenty — Craterellus cornucopioides

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Despite its ominous French name ("trumpet of death"), it is an excellent edible with zero risk of deadly confusion: its black trumpet silhouette makes it one of the easiest mushrooms to identify with certainty in Europe. The name comes solely from its shape evoking a funeral horn, not from any toxicity.

  1. entirely shaped like a trumpet or flared horn, hollow from top to bottom, wavy margin
  2. exterior (fertile surface) smooth to slightly wrinkled, ash-grey to brown-black, NEVER true gills or pores
  3. interior (upper surface of the cap) brown-black to black, matte, felted
  4. no distinct stem, the "horn" extends all the way to the ground
  5. flesh thin, brittle, blackish
  6. spore print cream-white
Size5-12 cm tall
Floweringsummer-autumn
Habitatdeciduous forests, often under beech and oak trees, in dense clusters within leaf litter

⚠️ Not to be confused with

No toxic or deadly species in Europe (—)aucun

To tell them apart: its entirely black, smooth, and hollow trumpet silhouette, lacking gills or pores, makes it impossible to mistake for a dangerous species; confusion only exists with other close Craterellus species, all of which are equally edible

🍽️ Eating it

Partsthe entire fruiting body
SeasonAugust-November
Tastetruffle-like and woody aroma, one of the most aromatic mushrooms once dried

Preparation : always cooked; excellent dried (it gains flavor as it dries and can be ground into powder to season sauces and risottos); thoroughly clean the folds, which collect dirt and debris

Sources (2)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.