Enokitake

enokitake Flammulina velutipes, a mushroom which looks different in its cultivated form from its appearance in the wild. This is because cultivation is of young specimens, which have a small convex cap on a long thin stem. The sticky, yellow to orange-brown cap is seldom more than 1 cm (0.3") wide, while the stem is typically as much as 12 cm (5") long. This mushroom is usually known by its Japanese name, since it is mainly the Japanese who cultivate it and who are the most eager consumers. Its distribution is, however, worldwide. It occurs in Britain and N. America, and has textbook English names: velvet shanks or velvet foot.