Toxic
Sulphur tuft
Hypholoma fasciculare
The character that does the work
Yellow-green gills. No edible clustered wood mushroom has them.
The specimen sheet, in examination order
01Cap
2 to 6 cm, sulphur yellow with a tawny or orange centre, smooth, dry.
02Underside
Crowded gills, sulphur yellow at first, turning greenish and then purple-brown with the spores.
03Stem, and the base
Slender, yellow above, rusty toward the base, often curved, no true ring.
04Flesh, cut
Yellow. Tastes intensely bitter, though tasting mushrooms is a habit worth losing.
05Spore print
06Where it grows
Large dense clusters on stumps and dead wood, hardwood and conifer alike.
When to look
Typically Jan to Dec in the northern hemisphere. Fruiting swings by weeks with rainfall and by a month or more with latitude, so this is when to look rather than when it will be there.
Extremely common across the northern hemisphere, in almost every month.
What is worth knowing about it
Probably the most commonly encountered toxic mushroom in Europe, growing on any stump in any park. Causes serious gastrointestinal illness and, in large doses, has been implicated in liver damage. Its saving grace is that it is ferociously bitter, so few people finish a meal of it.
Confused with
- Honey mushroom
- Sheathed woodtuft
- Brick cap
This page tells you what to check. It does not tell you the mushroom in your hand is that species, and it cannot. If you are not certain, do not eat it. If you have already eaten something and feel unwell, contact a poison centre and keep an uncooked specimen.
Others in this group