Species details
Velvet shank
Flammulina velutipes
Extra caution required
Photo: Dr. Hans-Günter Wagner · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Photo source · License
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Description
A yellow to orange-brown clustered mushroom with a sticky cap and dark velvety stem base.
Identification features
Gills are white to cream and there is no ring; the stem darkens toward the base to almost black.
Identification checklist
Check the entire fruitbody for identification. A yellow to orange-brown clustered mushroom with a sticky cap and dark velvety stem base. Gills are white to cream and there is no ring; the stem darkens toward the base to almost black. Typical habitat: On stumps and damaged hardwoods in the cold season, often after frost.
Detailed features
- Cap
- 3–6 cm, honey-yellow to orange-brown, darker in the centre; sticky when wet and often striate at the margin.
- Hymenophore
- Gills initially whitish, later cream to yellowish, relatively broad.
- Stem
- 3–7 × 0.4–0.6 cm, hollow and characteristically velvety; yellowish above, dark brown to almost black toward the base.
- Flesh
- Yellowish and somewhat tough.
- Smell
- Not distinctive.
- Spore print
- White.
Size
- Cap diameter
- 3–6 cm
- Stem height
- 3–7 cm
- Stem diameter
- 0,4–0,6 cm
Habitat
On stumps and damaged hardwoods in the cold season, often after frost.
Fruiting period
October, November, December, January, February, March
Ecology
- Trophic mode
- Saprotrophic
- Substrate
- Stumps, Dead hardwood
- Notes
- Grows in clusters on deciduous stumps and trunks, often during the cold season.
How to separate similar species
Compare especially with these similar species: Galerina marginata, Kuehneromyces mutabilis, Hypholoma fasciculare. 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
- Funeral bell (Galerina marginata) DANGEROUS
Has rusty-brown spore print and usually a ring or ring zone; deadly toxic.
- Sheathed woodtuft (Kuehneromyces mutabilis)
Has a ring, scaly lower stem, and brown spore print.
- Sulphur tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) DANGEROUS
More sulphur-yellow, with greenish gills and a bitter character; toxic.