Shaggy scalycap

Description

The shaggy scalycap grows in clumps, often large ones, on trunks and at the base of trees. The cap, 2–15 cm in diameter, is ochre to brown and densely covered with spreading scales, the same as on the lower part of the stem. The gills are yellowish at first, then rusty brown, there is a fibrous ring on the stem, and the flesh is yellowish, with a smell and taste resembling radish.

It grows from June to November, most often on weakened or dead deciduous trees, and is common in Poland. As a secondary parasite it causes white rot of the wood.

It can be confused with the honey fungus, but the honey fungus has white spores and fine scales that rub off easily. The shaggy scalycap is regarded as poisonous: it has caused poisonings, especially in combination with alcohol. Do not collect it for eating.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 2–15 cm (descriptions also give 3–12 cm). Young egg-shaped and closed, then hemispherical, finally flat; the margin stays inrolled for a long time. Colour ochre, ochre-brown to brown, darker in the middle (descriptions also give yellow-brown to tawny). Surface densely covered with spreading, backward-curved scales.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills crowded, attached (sometimes notched or slightly decurrent), green-brown or yellowish under the veil, then rusty brown.

Stem

Height 4–8 cm (descriptions also give 4–12 cm), thickness up to 12–15 mm, fibrous, the colour of the cap, more or less of equal thickness. The partial veil forms a thick, fibrous ring in the upper part; above the ring the stem is smooth, below it covered with scales like the cap.

Flesh

Yellowish, does not change colour when damaged. Taste strong, radish-like (some descriptions: mild, slightly radish-like); smell described variously: garlic, lemon, radish, onion or skunk. Do not taste it.

Spore print and spores

Spore print brown (cinnamon to rusty brown). Spores smooth, ellipsoid, non-amyloid; size 6–8 × 3.5–4.4 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. A saprotroph and secondary parasite (it attacks damaged or weakened trees), causing white rot of the wood, which can destroy a tree within a few years. Grows in clumps on fallen wood or at the base of living deciduous trees (birch, hornbeam, beech, ash, poplar, black locust, willow, rowan, lime, oak), much less often coniferous ones (fir, spruce).

Distribution. North and Central America (in Mexico only in coniferous forests), Europe, Asia. Common in Poland. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From summer to autumn, from June to November.

What can it be confused with?

• Armillaria mellea (honey fungus) — Spore print white (the shaggy scalycap has brown); the honey fungus has only fine scales that rub off easily with a finger; fruiting bodies less massive.
• Pholiota squarrosoides (sharp-scaly pholiota) — Paler cap margin, cap sticky between the scales, flesh white, no smell, smaller spores; according to some descriptions it grows only on dead beech wood.
• Gymnopilus junonius (spectacular rustgill) — Flesh very bitter, cap and stem without scales.
• Leucopholiota decorosa — White, narrowly attached gills with finely toothed edges; white, non-amyloid spores.
• Pholiota aurivella, P. populnea, 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 is the type species of the genus Pholiota.
• The fruiting bodies are the main food of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and contain more protein than other mushrooms it eats.
• In the Netherlands it regularly fruits on historic wooden harbour quays.
• The epithet squarrosa means "scaly, rough" in Latin.