Sulphur Tuft - Hypholoma fasiculare
Main features
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Fruits all year
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Grows on dead and felled wood
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Fruits in large clusters
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Smells mild
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Cap 2-7cm, sulphur yellow often with a tan coloured centre
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Cap is domed with a broad umbo
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Stem has a weblike veil remnant that is usually stained black from dropping spores
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Stem is 0.5-1cm wide and 5-12cm tall, with a curve to it
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Stem is sulphur yellow and darkens towards base
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Sulphur yellow gills darken to olive-green and eventually blacken with age
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Gills are crowded and adnate
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Flesh is sulphur yellow
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Spore print is dark purple-brown
Sulphur Tuft - Hypholoma fasiculare
Poisonous mushroom - novice identification
Other common names: Clustered Wood Lover
Scientific name meaning: Hypholoma comes from the Greek words Hyphe, meaning web, and Loma, meaning fringe. Fasiculare is from the Latin Fasiculus, meaning bundle
Season - when will I find it? All year
Habitat - where will I find it? On dead and felled wood
Description - what does it look like?
Growth: Sulphur Tuft is a saprobic fungus found fruiting in large clusters on dead or felled wood
Cap: The cap is a sulphur yellow colour and often a tan colour in its centre. It is convex, often with a central umbo (bump). It reaches 2-7cm wide
Gills: The crowded adnate gills (broadly attached to the stem) are a sulphur yellow at first, turning olivaceus green and blackening with age
Flesh: Sulphur yellow
Stem: The stem is 0.5-1cm in diameter and 5-12cm tall, and normally has a curve. It has web-like veil remnants, often tinted black by spores, rather than a ring.
Its colour is sulphur yellow, darkening at the base
Smell: Mild
Spore colour: Dark purple-brown
Possible lookalikes Could be very easily confused with the Brick Tuft (Hypholoma lateritium), but its caps is redder and the gills turn olive-brown, and the Conifer Tuft (Hypholoma capnoides), but this has pale grey gills
Poisonous parts All parts of this mushroom are poisonous and should not be consumed
Use in medicine None known
If you are suffering from any ailment or need medical advice, please see your General Practitioner
Other uses Being used experimentally in forestry to see if it will competitively displace the parasitic fungus Armillaria solidipes/ostoyae
Hazards This mushroom is poisonous
Importance to other species Provides food for a the larvae of a number of fly species
Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!
