Funeral bell

How to recognise it: funeral bell

1. 1

   Small brown mushroom growing gregariously on wood

2. 2

   Rusty-brown spore print

3. 3

   Stem below the ring with silvery-white fibrils (not scales)

4. 4

   Mealy smell

5. 5

   Contains amatoxins – delayed symptoms

Description

Cap

Small, 1.5–5 cm, hemispherical then flat, often with a blunt umbo; strongly hygrophanous – ochre- to reddish-brown when moist, drying paler from the centre; margin striate when moist.

Gills

Gills adnate, ochre-brown at first, then rusty-brown, edges paler.

Stem

Thin (1–6 mm), 2–8 cm, with a fragile whitish ring (often stained brown by spores); below the ring silvery-white lengthwise fibrils on a brown background, dark at the base.

Flesh

Thin, pale ochre in the cap, brown in the stem; does not change colour.

Smell and taste

Smell and taste mealy (with a hint of radish). Spore print rusty-brown. Do not taste – a deadly poisonous mushroom.

Where and when it grows

On decaying wood (stumps, trunks, branches, buried wood, sawdust), singly or in groups. In the mountains mainly with spruces; sources differ regarding broadleaf wood (Wikipedia: in the lowlands mainly beech; grzyby.pl: specimens from broadleaf wood are related species, e.g. Galerina autumnalis).

Most often with: spruce, pine, beech

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Sheathed woodtuft Edible high risk of confusion

  The most dangerous confusion. The sheathed woodtuft has raised dark brown scales below the ring (the funeral bell – white, flattened fibrils), its cap dries from the centre (paler centre, dark margin), it grows in larger clusters on broadleaf wood and has no mealy smell. Even experienced foragers confuse these species – sometimes only a microscope settles it.

  Step-by-step comparison: Sheathed woodtuft or funeral bell →
• 

  Honey fungus Edible with care high risk of confusion

  The honey fungus has a white spore print and whitish/beige gills, is larger and has a persistent membranous ring; the funeral bell has a rusty-brown spore print and rusty gills.

  Step-by-step comparison: Honey fungus or funeral bell →

Protection and sale

• Species protection: the species is not protected.
• Sale: the species is not on the list of mushrooms approved for sale.

Where you may pick mushrooms →