Look under the caps of enough Yellow Chanterelles and you’ll eventually find one that isn’t a chanterelle at all. On the underside of the cap of this vague chanterelle look-alike known as Hydnum repandum you’ll discover tiny, soft spines.

Chanterelles have faint ridges or, in some chanterelle species, pronounced ribs, underneath their tops. But no chanterelle out there features bristly spines on the underside of the cap. This is a Hedgehog, a genetically similar mushroom chanterelle hunters occasionally find growing side-by-side in the same habitat where they find their summer chanterelles.

Mushroom hunting isn’t for everybody. But if you think it’s for you, you’ll want to educate yourself well before you take that first bite.

Deadly poisonous mushrooms are not rare in Illinois.

HEDGEHOG MUSHROOM Hydnum repandum