Community find

Velvet Foot (Enoki)

Flammulina velutipes

Group

gilled mushroom

Spore print

White

Size

Cap diameter: 2-7 cm; Stipe: 2-10 cm long, 3-10 mm thick.

Season

Widely known for its ability to fruit in cold weather, commonly found in late autumn, winter, and early spring.

Habitat

Grows in clusters on dead or dying deciduous wood, particularly stumps and logs of hardwood trees like elms and willows.

Distribution

Common throughout the Northern Hemisphere, including North America, Europe, and Asia.

Key characteristics

Orange-brown, smooth cap with a sticky or slimy surface when wet. The cap often features distinct striations along the margin. It typically has a dark, velvety stipe (stem).

Fruiting body

Cap is convex to flat, 2-7 cm wide, yellow-orange to reddish-brown, darker in the center, viscid. Gills are adnexed to nearly free, white to pale yellow. Stipe is 2-10 cm long, tough, covered in fine dark brown or blackish velvety hairs starting from the base.

How to recognise it

Look for a dark, velvety stem and a white spore print. The ability to fruit during frost or after a winter thaw is a major diagnostic feature.

Look-alikes

Galerina marginata (Funeral Bell) which has a ring on the stipe and brown spores, and Omphalotus illudens (Jack-o'-lantern) which is larger and fruits earlier.

Ecological role

Saprophytic (decomposing dead wood) and occasionally parasitic on living trees.

Notes

This species is the wild version of the cultivated Enoki mushroom. In nature, it looks very different (larger, darker, and sturdier) than the long, white, spindly cultivated stalks which are grown in the dark with elevated carbon dioxide levels.