Species details
Brown roll-rim
Paxillus involutus
Poisonous
Photo: Tomas Čekanavičius · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photo source · License
Description
A brown mushroom with a persistently rolled cap margin and gills that brown when pressed or damaged.
Identification features
The gills run down the stem and can partly peel away. The species can cause severe immune-mediated poisoning.
Identification checklist
Young fruitbodies have a brown cap with a strongly inrolled margin. Crowded, often forked gills run down the stem and bruise brown; the whole mushroom darkens with age.
Detailed features
- Cap
- Ochre to brown, initially convex with a strongly inrolled margin, later more depressed; may be sticky when wet.
- Hymenophore
- The gills are crowded, strongly decurrent and turn brown when bruised.
- Stem
- Cylindrical to slightly tapered, ochre-brown, without a ring.
- Flesh
- Yellowish to brownish, darkening where damaged.
- Spore print
- Rusty to sienna-brown.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 5–12 cm
- Stem height
- 6–12 cm
- Stem diameter
- 0,8–1,2 cm
Habitat
A common mycorrhizal species in many woodland types, parks, and pathsides.
Fruiting period
June, July, August, September, October, November
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Mycorrhizal
- Host trees
- Birch (Betula), Beech (Fagus), Oak (Quercus)
Distribution
- Notes
- A widespread woodland species in Europe.
How to separate similar species
Related roll-rims can be very similar, and macroscopic identification is not always reliable. Velvet roll-rim grows on wood and has a dark velvety stem, but it is also not recommended for consumption.
Similar species
Interesting facts
Did you know? The species was formerly eaten in some places but is now regarded as poisonous because it can trigger severe immune-mediated haemolysis.