Armillaria mellea    (Vahl.:Fr.) P. Kumm. 

common name(s) : Honey Fungus, Boot-lace Fungus 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Physalacriaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Tricholomatales/Tricholomataceae/Clitocyboideae/Clitocybeae  

synonyms: Clitocybe mellea, Armillariella mellea 

edibility : discard

photo gallery of  Armillaria mellea
photo gallery of  Armillaria mellea potential confusions with  Armillaria mellea toxicity of Armillaria mellea genus Armillaria  

The cap is dark yellowish, honey to brown, hemispherical, then conical, expanded to depressed, with an umbo more or less marked; its margin is inrolled, then wavy and striate. The cap surface is covered with dark fibrillose scales especially towards centre, ultimately disappearing, not viscid nor sticky.

The stem is beige yellowish, flexible, thin, turning black towards base, with a membranous white or yellow sheathing ring.

The flesh is white, unchanging; its taste is bitter to acidic; the odour is faint, not very pleasant: acid, mushroomy, or of camembert cheese; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are white to yellowish, stained with brown, adnate, crowded (nb of gills per 90° ~ 22 ). The spore print is white. This species is parasitic or saprophytic. It grows on wood (also on the ground, on buried wood), coming in dense tufts, in broad-leaved woods (more frequently) but also with conifers, in parks, gardens, with oak, willow, fir, larch, blackberry bush.

The fruiting period takes place from June to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 10 cm (between 2 and 25 cm)
  height of stem approximately 12 cm (between 3 and 20 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 12 mm (between 4 and 30 mm)

Chemical tests : none.

Distinctive features : olive-brown to honey-yellow cap, finely scaly especially at centre; white then yellow membranous ring on stem; flesh with bitter taste; in tufts on trees or roots

Armillaria mellea is occasional and widely present in the forest of Rambouillet, and is very frequent, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Armillaria mellea in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Armillaria mellea in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18