Alder Scalycap Pholiota alnicola (Fr.) Singer (illustrated 45% life size) Cap 2–8cm across, convex to flattened, veil remnants often adhering to margin; bright lemon-yellow, becoming flushed olivaceous at margin; smooth, greasy. Stem 20–80×5–10mm; pale lemon-yellow above remains of veil, becoming rusty brown towards the base; not viscid. Flesh yellow in cap, rusty towards stem base; taste mild to slightly bitter, smell pleasant, sweet. Gills pale yellow at first becoming cinnamon. Spores 8.5–11.5×5–5.5¼, oval, smooth. Spore print rusty brown. Cheilocystidia clavate, hair-like, thin-walled, hyaline. Habitat solitary or in small clusters on deciduous wood, especially alder, willow, and birch; autumn. Frequent. Edible but not worthwhile. Note in Britain most specimens of this fungus were wrongly determined as Pholiota flavida.
