Sheathed woodtuft

How to recognise it: sheathed woodtuft

1. 1

   Dense clusters on stumps of broadleaf trees

2. 2

   Two-toned cap – dries from the centre

3. 3

   Raised dark brown scales below the ring

4. 4

   Rusty-brown spore print

5. 5

   Smell of fresh wood

Description

Cap

2–7 cm across, flat with a blunt umbo, hygrophanous: cinnamon-brown when moist, dries from the centre – centre pale ochre, margin darker (two-toned).

Gills

Gills crowded, whitish at first, then rusty-brown (cinnamon), adnate or slightly decurrent.

Stem

5–7 cm × 5–8 mm, fibrous, hollow; a leathery ring, smooth above, covered below the ring with raised dark brown scales.

Flesh

Thin, whitish, watery in the cap; rusty-brown in the stem; does not change colour.

Smell and taste

Smell pleasant, like freshly cut wood; taste mild. Spore print rusty-brown.

Where and when it grows

Common; gregarious in dense clusters on stumps and trunks of broadleaf trees (alder, birch, beech, hornbeam, willow), rarely on conifers (mainly in the mountains), in forests, parks and gardens.

Most often with: birch, alder, beech, hornbeam, willow, oak, lime, hazel

Where are conditions good today?

Look-alikes: what it can be mistaken for

• 

  Funeral bell Deadly poisonous high risk of confusion

  Deadly poisonous (amatoxins). The funeral bell has white, flattened fibrils below the ring instead of scales, a mealy smell, often grows on coniferous wood; its cap dries from the margin towards the centre. The differences can be subtle – if in doubt, do not pick.

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

  Sulphur tuft Poisonous medium risk

  The sulphur tuft has a sulphur-yellow cap, greenish and purple-black gills, a dark spore print, no membranous ring and a bitter taste.

  Step-by-step comparison: Sheathed woodtuft or sulphur tuft →
• 

  Honey fungus Edible with care low risk

  Edible, but easily confused with the funeral bell. The sheathed woodtuft has a rusty-brown spore print, cinnamon gills and a cap that dries from the centre (two-toned); the honey fungus has a white spore print.

In the kitchen

Suitable for soups and sauces; eat only the caps (the stems are fibrous). Not suitable for pickling in vinegar; colours soup brown.

Protection and sale

• Species protection: the species is not protected.
• Sale: the species is not on the list of mushrooms approved for sale. On the list of mushrooms permitted for sale, but only “from cultivation or from outside the territory of the Republic of Poland” – specimens picked in the wild in Poland may not be sold.

Where you may pick mushrooms →