Fairy-cakes

Description

Fairy-cakes is a common mushroom with a cream, ochre or rusty-yellow cap, usually 4–8 cm in diameter, smooth, slimy in the rain. It has crowded, grey-brown gills that become covered with droplets in damp weather, and a cylindrical, fibrous stem without a ring. The flesh smells of radish and is usually bitter.

It grows from May to November under birches, oaks and beeches, in deciduous and coniferous forests, but also in parks, gardens and by roads. In Poland it is very common.

It is poisonous and not suitable for eating; it causes gastrointestinal complaints. Take care when collecting pale mushrooms with brown gills and a radish smell.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 4–8 cm (descriptions give 3–11 cm), exceptionally up to 10 cm. Young hemispherical or bell-shaped with an inrolled margin, then flattened, wavy or raised at the margin, in some descriptions with a umbo. Cap surface smooth, cream, ochre, tawny or rusty-yellow; slimy or mucilaginous in damp weather, only slightly sticky in dry weather.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills crowded, narrowly attached or notched (in some descriptions also "completely free"), with ragged edges; pale when young, becoming grey-ochre to brown with age. In damp weather they weep: milky or clear droplets appear on the edges.

Stem

Height 5–10 cm (descriptions give 4–13 cm), thickness 1–2 cm, cylindrical, widened at the base, surface fibrous, sometimes covered with fine scales in the upper part. No ring.

Flesh

Creamy white, darker in the lower part of the stem. Smell of radish, taste mostly bitter. Do not taste it; never taste the flesh of mushrooms suspected of being toxic.

Spore print and spores

Spore print ochre-brown. Spores lemon-shaped (according to some descriptions elliptical), finely warty; size 3–9 × 5.5–7.5 µm (a wide range, needs confirmation).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A terrestrial mycorrhizal fungus. Grows in deciduous and coniferous forests, and also in parks, gardens, on banks and in ruderal habitats (roadsides, dumps). Avoids very wet habitats. Mycorrhizal partners: silver birch, pedunculate and sessile oak, European beech.

Distribution. North and Central America, Europe, Australia, Japan and Korea (recorded in 18 countries). Very common in Central Europe and in Poland. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From May to November (in mild climates, e.g. California, also in winter).

What can it be confused with?

• Hebeloma radicosum (rooting poisonpie) — A distinctly rooting stem growing out of rotting wood.
• Hebeloma sinapizans (mustard poisonpie) — A much larger cap, coloured darker in the centre than at the edge.
• Hebeloma insigne — Listed as a similar species; detailed differences — no data.

Never rely on a single feature. If you are not sure — do not pick it; show the mushroom to a qualified mushroom expert.

Interesting facts

• The English names poison pie and fairy cakes refer to the Latin epithet crustulum — "a small cake".
• A mycorrhizal preparation that helps the growth and development of tree seedlings is made from the mycelium.
• In California it is "by far" the most common Hebeloma (the opinion of D. Arora).
• The first scientific description comes from Bulliard in 1787.