Species details

Lion shield

Pluteus leoninus

Traditionally edible

Description

A golden-yellow shield mushroom with a velvety cap, free gills and pink spore print.

Cap 2–7 cm wide, conical-bell-shaped to flat, golden yellow with a somewhat darker centre. Gills are free, white at first and later pink.

Check the golden-yellow velvety cap, free gills turning pink and growth directly on woody debris.

Yellow Pluteus species can be similar; free gills and microscopic characters matter in atypical specimens.

Grows on dead branches, stumps and wood fragments in deciduous and coniferous woodland in summer and autumn.

June, July, August, September, October