Plums And Custard

Description

Plums and custard has a cap 3–15 cm across, covered with felty, purplish-red hairs and scales, with the yellow background showing through. Young specimens may be almost entirely purple, while old ones turn yellow. The gills are crowded and always yellow, the stem is cylindrical, hollow in age, without a ring, and the flesh is yellow. Hence the English name “plums and custard”.

This is a wood-dwelling mushroom: it grows on stumps, logs and at the bases of trunks, usually of conifers, singly or in clusters. Sometimes it looks as if it were growing on the ground, but the mycelium is then connected to buried wood. Fruiting bodies appear from summer to November, and in Poland the species is common.

It is recognised by the combination of a red-scaly cap, yellow gills, yellow flesh and growth on wood. It is considered inedible – it is not worth putting in your basket.

Identification features

Cap

Diameter 3–15 cm; young cap hemispherical or arched with an incurved margin, later convex, bell-shaped and spreading, sometimes with a blunt umbo. Surface felty, densely covered with red to purplish-red hairs that bunch into small scales with age, with the yellow background showing through. Colour very variable: young specimens may be entirely purple-violet, older ones uniformly yellow. A KOH test gives a red colour on the cap surface. An exceptional specimen with a diameter of 56 cm has been recorded.

Hymenophore (underside of the cap)

Gills crowded, with many short gills, broadly adnate or notched with a tooth at the stem, somewhat flaky. Always yellow; paler in young specimens, darkening with age.

Stem

Height 5–12 cm, thickness 0.8–3 cm, cylindrical, quickly becoming hollow. Colour like the cap or only yellow; at the base with red scales, towards the gills fading to yellow or a whitish tint, and in old specimens it may be entirely yellow. No ring.

Flesh

Yellow to cream-coloured. Smell and taste bland, not very pleasant. Do not taste the flesh.

Spore print and spores

Spore print white to creamy white, non-amyloid. Spores smooth, almost globose to broadly ellipsoid, glassy in KOH, without a germ pore; about 5–8 × 3–5.5 µm (descriptions give different ranges).

Habitat and distribution

Ecology. Saprotroph on dead, well-decayed wood: trunks, stumps, logs and the bases of trees, rarely also on wood chips, sawdust and lignin-rich soil. Grows on conifers and broadleaved trees; in Central Europe mainly on conifers (especially spruce), in Southern Europe more often on broadleaved trees. Sometimes it appears to grow on the ground, but the mycelium then arises from buried tree roots.

Distribution. Northern Hemisphere: Europe, Asia, North and Central America; probably introduced with pine wood to Australia, New Zealand and Costa Rica. Common in Poland. Not legally protected in Poland.

Fruiting. From June (in Poland usually from July) to November; singly, scattered or in clusters, sometimes in large groups.

What can it be confused with?

• Tricholomopsis decora — Golden in colour, fruiting bodies clearly less common; also grows in coniferous forests, but at higher altitudes.
• Tricholomopsis flammula — Smaller, with a yellower stem.
• Megacollybia fallax — Cap grey-brown, without red scales.
• Gymnopilus luteofolius — Grows in clusters and has scales on the cap; it is sometimes mistaken for Tricholomopsis rutilans.

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 name “plums and custard” refers to the plum-red scales of the cap and the custard-yellow gills.
• The cap colour changes with age: young fruiting bodies may be purple-violet, and old ones uniformly yellow.
• A record specimen with a cap 56 cm in diameter was found in Italy on a cork oak stump.
• In Australia, New Zealand and Costa Rica it has been found on planted pines, where it was probably introduced with wood.