Pholiota astragalina    (Fr.:Fr.) Singer 

common name(s) : Conifer Scalycap 

New classification: Basidiomycota/Agaricomycotina/Agaricomycetes/Agaricomycetidae/Agaricales/Strophariaceae  
Former classification: Basidiomycota/Homobasidiomycetes/Agaricomycetideae/Cortinariales/Strophariaceae/Pholioteae  

edibility : inedible

potential confusions with  Pholiota astragalina toxicity of Pholiota astragalina genus Pholiota  

The cap is orange yellow to orange red; its margin is with white veil remnants, sometimes wavy. The cap surface is smooth, viscid or sticky.

The stem is orange yellow with fibrils or scales, not viscous, with a ring zone.

The flesh is yellow-orange, turning black in the stem when exposed to air; its taste is bitter; the odour is not distinctive; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are yellow then red-orange, adnate, crowded . The spore print is brown. This species is saprophytic. It grows on dead wood, in tufts, in coniferous woods, on pine, spruce, fir.

The fruiting period takes place from September to November.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 5 cm (between 2 and 7 cm)
  height of stem approximately 7 cm (between 3 and 10 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 8 mm (between 4 and 10 mm)

Distinctive features : Sticky and only slightly viscous cap surface when moist, with yellow veil remnants on the margin; saffron gills without a violet tinge; flesh darkening in stem base when cut

Pholiota astragalina is still unreported so far in the forest of Rambouillet, and is quite rare, more generally speaking .



page updated on 14/01/18