Sulphur Tuft

Sulphur Tuft Hypholoma fasciculare (Huds.) P. Kumm. (illustrated (f) 40% life size) Cap 2–7cm across, convex or slightly umbonate, remains of pale yellow veil often adhering to margin; bright sulphur-yellow, tinged orange-tan towards the centre. Stem 40–100×5–10mm, often curved; sulphur-yellow at the apex, becoming dirty brownish towards the base, with a faint ring zone, often made more obvious by trapped purple-brown spores. Flesh sulphur-yellow, more brownish towards the stem base; taste very bitter, smell mushroomy. Gills sulphur-yellow, becoming olivaceous, finally dark brown. Spores 6–7×4–4.5¼, oval, with pore. Spore print purplish-brown. Cheilocystidia thin-walled, cylindrical, hair-like; pleurocystidia broadly clavate with beak-like apex. Habitat in dense clusters on stumps of deciduous and coniferous trees; all year. Very common. Not edible.