Species details
Sulphur knight
Tricholoma sulphureum
Poisonous
Photo: Rudolphous · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo source · License
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Description
A bright sulphur-yellow knight with a strong unpleasant gas-like or tarry smell.
Identification features
Cap, gills, stem, and flesh are yellow; gills are relatively widely spaced and thick.
Identification checklist
Check the entire fruitbody for identification. A bright sulphur-yellow knight with a strong unpleasant gas-like or tarry smell. Cap, gills, stem, and flesh are yellow; gills are relatively widely spaced and thick. Typical habitat: Deciduous and mixed woodland, especially under beech and oak, often on calcareous soil.
Detailed features
- Cap
- 3–7 cm, sulphur-yellow, smooth, sometimes brownish at the centre; initially convex, later flattened and occasionally umbonate.
- Hymenophore
- Gills sulphur-yellow, very broad, and somewhat attached to the stem.
- Stem
- 4–8 × 0.5–1.5 cm, yellow, solid, slightly fibrous, cylindrical to bulbous and often curved.
- Flesh
- Yellow and fibrous.
- Smell
- Very strong and unpleasant, often described as gas-like or tarry.
- Taste
- Do not taste.
- Spore print
- White.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 3–7 cm
- Stem height
- 4–8 cm
- Stem diameter
- 0,5–1,5 cm
Habitat
Deciduous and mixed woodland, especially under beech and oak, often on calcareous soil.
Fruiting period
August, September, October, November
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Mycorrhizal
- Substrate
- Forest soil
- Notes
- Mycorrhizal with various deciduous and coniferous trees; common in deciduous, coniferous and mixed woodland.
How to separate similar species
Compare especially with these similar species: Tricholoma bufonium, Tricholoma equestre, Tricholoma sejunctum. Check the combination of cap shape and colour, spore-bearing surface, stem, flesh changes and habitat. A single feature or photograph is not enough; if the key characters do not match the description, do not treat the identification as confirmed.
Similar species
- Yellow knight (Tricholoma equestre) DANGEROUS
The yellow knight is more green-yellow, often with brownish scales, and lacks the intensely offensive smell.
- Deceiving knight (Tricholoma sejunctum)
Has a more olive-green to brownish cap and a different, less overpowering smell.