Bonfire Scalycap

Bonfire Scalycap Pholiota highlandensis (Peck) Quadr. syn. P. carbonaria (Fr.) Singer (illustrated 40% life size) Cap 2–5cm across, shallowly convex, becoming flattened and wavy; ochre-brown to tan, lighter at margin; smooth, viscid drying shiny, rather variable. Stem 35–70×4–8mm, pale yellowish above ring zone, covered in fine, cottony fibres and darkening reddish-brown towards the base. Flesh pale yellow, rusty-brown in stem base; taste and smell not distinctive. Gills adnexed; pale clay, later cinnamon, finally olive-brown. Spores 6.5–8×3.5–4.5¼, oval, smooth. Spore print brown. Pleurocystidia fusiform, projecting conspicuously beyond the basidia, thin-walled, hyaline; cheilocystidia similar. Habitat on burnt ground, often in large numbers; autumn, sporadically throughout the year. Frequent. Not edible.