Pholiota Mushrooms

Pholiota mushrooms a genus widely represented in the northern temperate zones. One, the nameko, is a well-known edible. Of the remainder, none has acquired a genuine English vernacular name, although ‘pholiota’ is used, and few are regarded as worth eating.

Most Pholiota mushrooms grow on trees or stumps or buried pieces of wood. The edible species in N. America include P. squarrosa, which won praise from McIlvaine (1902M) and others, and which appears in Michigan in a form which has an aroma of garlic; but it enjoys less esteem in Europe, and recent American authors rate P. squarrosoides as better. Both have markedly scaly caps, the former dry and the latter slimy.