Sheathed Woodtuft

Description

The sheathed woodtuft grows in clumps on stumps and dead wood of deciduous trees. The cap, 2–7 cm across, is cinnamon-brown and slimy in the wet, and fades from the centre as it dries. It has dense gills that become rusty-brown with age, a narrow stem with a ring, and below the ring a dark, scaly stem. It appears from April to November and is sometimes among the first and last mushrooms of the season.

This mushroom requires exceptional caution. It is deceptively similar to the deadly poisonous funeral bell (Galerina marginata), which contains the same toxins as the death cap and can grow on the same wood. The identifying features (scaly stem, the way the cap dries, smell) are not fully reliable, and even experienced mushroom pickers make mistakes. In Polish trade it is approved only if cultivated or from outside Poland.

If you are not absolutely sure of the species, do not pick it and do not eat it.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 2–8 cm (descriptions give different ranges). Young ones hemispherical, then flat with a blunt umbo. Cuticle bare, smooth, strongly hygrophanous: after rain cinnamon-brown, slimy, shiny; in dry weather it dries from the centre towards the margin, so that the centre is pale ochre and the margin brownish, striate.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills dense, attached to the stem, sometimes slightly running down. Covered by a veil in young specimens; at first whitish, then yellow-brown, finally rusty-brown.

Stem

Length 4–9 cm (descriptions give different ranges), thickness 5–8 mm; cylindrical, bent, stringy, hollow inside. Colour similar to the cap. In the upper part a leathery ring with spreading small scales; above the ring the stem is smooth or finely striate, below it dark brown, shaggy or scaly (“wearing a boot”).

Flesh

In the cap thin, whitish, soft and watery; in the stem hard, rusty-brown. Taste insignificant, mild, smell pleasant, mushroomy, reminiscent of freshly cut wood. We do not recommend testing taste or smell to distinguish it from poisonous species.

Spore print and spores

Spore print rusty-brown. Spores ovoid, smooth, pale brown, 6–7 × 4–4.5 µm.

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph growing gregariously, in clumps, on stumps, dead trunks and branches of deciduous trees (close to the ground): alder, birch, hornbeam, hazel, beech, willow, oak, linden. Very rarely on the wood of fir, pine and spruce. Grows in deciduous and mixed forests, parks and gardens.

Distribution. The whole Northern Hemisphere: Europe (from the south to Iceland and Scandinavia), Asia, North America; also reported from Australia. Common in Poland. Not legally protected. For sale (Ministry of Health list) it is approved only if cultivated or from outside Poland, because of its look-alike Galerina marginata.

Fruiting. From April to November, in mild weather also in winter; it often appears when other mushrooms are scarce.

What can it be confused with?

• Galerina marginata (funeral bell) — DEADLY POISONOUS — Grows mainly on conifer stumps. The stem below the ring is usually fibrous-silky with white fibres of the veil (sometimes zigzag), not scaly; the cap dries from the margin towards the centre (in the sheathed woodtuft from the centre); smell and taste mealy. None of these features is fully reliable — the funeral bell can have scales.
• Hypholoma capnoides (conifer tuft) — Gills with a bluish tinge.
• Kuehneromyces lignicola, K. marginellus, Pholiota angustipes, P. terrestris — Listed as similar; 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

• It was described by Jacob Christian Schäffer in 1774; for a long time in Poland it was known as Pholiota mutabilis.
• The name “mutabilis” (changeable) refers to the strong change in cap colour depending on moisture (hygrophany).
• It appears even in winter in mild weather and is sometimes one of the few mushrooms at that time.
• Its poisonous look-alike, Galerina marginata, contains amatoxins and can grow on the same wood.