Pholiota highlandensis    (Peck) Quadr. 

common name(s) : Bonfire Scalycap, Charcoal Pholiota 

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

synonyms: Pholiota carbonaria, Flammula carbonaria, Pholiota carbonaria-gigantea 
(unconfirmed synonyms: Dryophila carbonaria, Pholiota fulvozonata, Pholiota luteobadia, Pholiota molesta, Pholiota persicina, Pholiota subsaponacea)  

edibility : inedible

potential confusions with  Pholiota highlandensis toxicity of Pholiota highlandensis genus Pholiota  

The cap is yellow towards margin, orange-red at the centre. The cap surface is smooth, viscid or sticky.

The stem is flexible, tough, with a ring zone.

The flesh is yellowish white, reddish brown in stem base, unchanging; its taste is mild to bitter; the odour is freshly cut lawn; its texture is fibrous.

The gills are yellow white then light brown, adnate, crowded . The spore print is rusty brown. This species is saprophytic. It grows on dead wood or on the ground, in coniferous woods, on fireplaces, charcoal, burnt stumps.

The fruiting period takes place from March to December.
Dimensions: width of cap approximately 3.5 cm (between 1 and 7 cm)
  height of stem approximately 5 cm (between 2 and 8 cm)
  thickness of stem (at largest section) approximately 6 mm (between 2 and 9 mm)

Chemical tests : none.

Distinctive features : viscid and orange-brown cap surface, shine when dry; pale and fibrous stem with ring zone; taste of flesh not bitter; on fireplaces or burnt wood

Pholiota highlandensis is rare and localised in the forest of Rambouillet, and is occasional, more generally speaking .
here should be the distribution map of Pholiota highlandensis in the forest of Rambouillet
Above : distribution map of Pholiota highlandensis in the forest of Rambouillet



page updated on 14/01/18