''Pholiota squarrosoides'' is a species of
mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
in the family
Strophariaceae
The Strophariaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. Under an older classification, the family covered 18 genera and 1316 species. The species of Strophariaceae have red-brown to dark brown spore prints, while the spores themselves a ...
. It is similar to the species ''
Pholiota squarrosa
''Pholiota squarrosa'', commonly known as the shaggy scalycap, the shaggy Pholiota, or the scaly Pholiota, is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. Common in North America and Europe, it is often an opportunistic parasite, and ha ...
''. There are differing accounts on whether the mushroom is edible.
Description
This mushroom grows in crowded clusters, with caps up to in diameter and stems up to in length. The caps are convex at first, becoming flattened with age, and are sticky when wet. They are yellowish-brown with prominent cone-shaped,
tawny scales which are crowded together near the centre. The gills are closely packed, yellow at first becoming rusty-brown later. The stem is the same colour as the cap and is covered with small scales. Near the top it bears a cottony yellowish
ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
which flares out. The spores are brown.
It is difficult to distinguish this species from ''
Pholiota squarrosa
''Pholiota squarrosa'', commonly known as the shaggy scalycap, the shaggy Pholiota, or the scaly Pholiota, is a species of mushroom in the family Strophariaceae. Common in North America and Europe, it is often an opportunistic parasite, and ha ...
'', but that mushroom has a greenish tinge to the gills and is never sticky.
Edibility
The species was reported as edible "with caution" by Kent and Vera McKnight, but that it can be confused with the poisonous ''
P. squarrosa''.
Mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
Alexander H. Smith
Alexander Hanchett Smith (December 12, 1904 – December 12, 1986) was an American mycologist known for his extensive contributions to the taxonomy and phylogeny of the higher fungi, especially the agarics.
Early life
Smith, born in Crandon, Wis ...
wrote that it is the best edible species in its genus.
Orson K. Miller Jr. and
Roger Phillips regard it as edible,
but a description provided by the
University of Arkansas
The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...
states that it is not.
Habitat
The species can commonly be found in late summer in the
Great Lakes states
The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian– American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadia ...
, the Pacific Northwest, and eastern North America. Its habitat is on the bark of
hardwood
Hardwood is wood from dicot trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen. Hardwood (which comes from ...
trees.
It is rarely found in Europe, but the first specimen in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
was discovered in 2010 in the southwestern part of the country.
The Poland discovery happened at the
Łężczok Nature Reserve near the town of
Racibórz
Racibórz (german: Ratibor, cz, Ratiboř, szl, Racibōrz) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County.
With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being t ...
. The mushroom might also be found in the temperate regions of Asia.
Although the mushroom is considered a
saprophyte, rather than a
parasite
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...
, it can cause the wood to degrade rapidly. In the Great Lakes region, it decays logs of the trees ''
Acer saccharum
''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prima ...
'' and ''
Tilia glabra''.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10549618
Strophariaceae
Fungi of North America
Fungi of Europe