Shaggy Scalycap  / Summer / Autumn / Inedible

The Shaggy Scalycap is the one mushroom you could potentially confuse with the edible honey fungus mushroom, it’s well worth getting to know as we come across it regularly.

Scientific Name

Pholiota squarrosa

Common Names

Shaggy Scalycap

Family

Strophariaceae

Habitat

They are a secondary parasite, and attack trees that have already been weakened from an injury, by bacteria or by other fungi. Generally found on deciduous trees, although it can also infect conifers. It can also live as a saprobe, decomposing wood.

Description

They a fairly common mushroom and normally appear in large groups around the base of trees particularly beech.

Identifying Features of the Shaggy Scalycap: 

Cap: 

The caps Caps are 4 to 12 cm in diameter, roughly straw coloured and covered in upturned triangular brown scales in concentric rings. They are convex when young and flatten out with age but they tend to retain an in-rolled margin.

Stem:

The stems are around 6 to 15 cm tall, the stem has a distinctly scaly ring. Below the ring the stem is covered in scales very similar to those on the cap. The section  of the stem above the ring is paler and smooth. 

Gills:

When young the gills are protected by a cortina-like veil which develops into the ring or skirt.

The  gills are crowded and adnate, pale grey to yellow at first, becoming cinnamon to red as the spores mature.

Smell:

The smell has been described as somewhere between garlic, lemon, onion, or skunk, most people say radish like.

Spores:

Brown.

Known hazards

They were classed as edible in the past but they have caused several cases of poisoning. The afflicted individuals had consumed alcohol with the mushroom, then experienced vomiting and diarrhoea about ten hours later.

Potential lookalikes for the Shaggy Scalycap

They are often confused with Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea). But Armillaria species all produce white spore prints while all Pholiota fungi have brown spores.

Extra Notes

They’re scientific name derives from the Greek word Pholis, meaning a scale, the generic name Pholiota means scaly and just to hammer home the point squarrosa translates to ‘with upright scales’.

They are one of the primary food sources for the endangered red squirrel.

References:

https://www.first-nature.com/fungi/pholiota-squarrosa.php