Community find

Sulfur Tuft

Hypholoma fasciculare

Group

gilled mushroom

Spore print

Purple-brown to dark brown.

Size

Cap: 2–6 cm diameter; Stipe: 3–10 cm length, 0.4–1 cm width.

Season

Common from late spring through late autumn, and sometimes into winter in milder climates.

Habitat

Grows primarily on decaying wood of both broadleaf and coniferous trees. It is often found on stumps, buried roots, or logs.

Distribution

Widespread across Europe and North America, and found in many other temperate regions globally.

Key characteristics

Gregarious and caespitose growth habit (found in dense clusters). The caps are typically bright sulfur-yellow, often with orange or reddish centers. Gills are initially yellow, turning a characteristic greenish-yellow and eventually olive-brown or dark brown as spores mature.

Fruiting body

Cap is convex to flat, 2–6 cm wide, smooth, sulfur-yellow with an orange-brown center. Gills are crowded and adnate, starting yellow and darkening to olive-green. Stipe is 5-10 cm long, slender, often curved, yellow, and may have a faint, dark ring zone from falling spores.

How to recognise it

Look for the dense clustering on wood and the distinct greenish tint of the gills, which is rare in other gilled mushrooms. The very bitter taste of the flesh is a diagnostic feature used by mycologists.

Look-alikes

Hypholoma capnoides (lacks greenish tints in gills), Hypholoma lateritium (Brick Cap), and Galerina marginata (Funeral Bell).

Ecological role

Saprophytic; it plays a vital role in decomposing dead wood and recycling nutrients back into the forest soil.

Notes

Hypholoma fasciculare is one of the most common and widely distributed wood-rotting fungi in temperate forests. Its name 'fasciculare' refers to the way the mushrooms grow in bundles or 'fascicles'.