Pholiota

Notes

Fleshy mushrooms on wood; cap glutinous or sticky, typically with dark scales emebbed in slime; gills covered with a veil when young, often the remains of the veil form a ring on the central stalk, often scaly below the ring. Spore print cinnamon brown. Often growing in clumps, usually on standing dead wood. The species are variable in size, the large P. aurivella up to 10 cm across, while some of the other NZ endemic species are only 1-2 cm.
This genus of saprobic mushrooms is poorly understood for New Zealand, with perhaps 10 or more species.
Pholiota could be confused with Gymnopilus, but this has a dry cap and brighter (rusty to orange) spores. Naematoloma and Stropharia have dark purplish spore prints. Lentinula has a white spore print and tougher flesh.

 

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Images		NZFungi Entry

Pholiota aurivella