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Chiodino, Famigliola Buona
Honey Fungus Armillaria mellea
Appears in
By Antonio Carluccio and Priscilla Carluccio
Published 1997
In the autumn, this mushroom can be bought for a modest price at every Italian market. As a fungus it is greatly feared by foresters and owners of orchards or fruit trees because of its parasitic habit of feeding on not only decaying wood but the sap of living trees, which threatens their survival.
Its Italian names, chiodino and famigliola, refer to its shape, chiodo meaning ‘nail’, and pattern of growth as famigliola means ‘small family’, indicating that it grows in tight bunches. Its Latin name, mellea means ‘honey’, hence its English name, although this is a reference to its colour rather than its flavour.