Hypholoma fasciculare

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Strophariaceae > Hypholoma . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This widely distributed mushroom is fairly common, and is often found fruiting in large, striking clusters on the wood of conifers or hardwoods. When fresh, the clustered caps are bright yellow to greenish yellow--as are the gills and stems. The spore print is purple-brown, and with older specimens you can frequently check this out in the field, due to the clustered growth pattern, by simply lifting a few caps that have covered others. Like many other Hypholoma species, Hypholoma fasciculare is most often found in colder weather.

Though its bitter taste would stop all but the most determined mycophagists anyway, it should be noted that Hypholoma fasciculare may be poisonous; I do not recommend it as an edible. That said, I have some doubts. Contemporary field guides say the mushroom has proven fatal in Europe and Asia--but so do older field guides, and contemporary authors may be simply reiterating the older claims. It is possible that we are in territory similar to that of Hygrocybe conica, where "four deaths in China" are cited by many authors as proof of the mushroom's toxicity--when the four deaths occurred in a pre-industrial country so long ago that one can't be sure the mushrooms were accurately identified, let alone the cause of the poisoning.

The earliest edibility reference to Hypholoma fasciculare in my library is Nina Marshall's The Mushroom Book (1902, 80), where she says the mushroom is "reputed poisonous." Unlike Hygrocybe conica, however, contemporary authors also cite non-fatal North American evidence--like Arora (1986, 383): "in America only gastrointestinal upsets have been reported." Perhaps these cases could simply result from the bitter taste; in 1949, Alexander Smith noted that "[t]here are reports of people eating this species after boiling the caps in water and of suffering no ill effects" (514). Don't get me wrong, however: I would not eat this mushroom, and I don't recommend that you do, either!

A smaller, southern version of Hypholoma fasciculare, which may or may not be a truly distinct species, is discussed in the comments below.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing in clusters on decaying logs and stumps of hardwoods and conifers; fall and winter, sometimes in spring; widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 2-5 cm; conical to convex at first, becoming broadly convex to flat; smooth; dry; bright sulfur yellow to greenish yellow when fresh, sometimes yellowish orange when young, often with a darker center; the margin sometimes with small partial veil fragments.

Gills: Attached to the stem or pulling away from it; sulfur yellow, becoming olive or greenish yellow, eventually dusted with spores and therefore spotted purplish brown to blackish (see third illustration); close or crowded.

Stem: 5-12 cm long; 3-10 mm thick; more or less equal, or tapering to base, bright yellow to tawny, developing rusty brown stains from the base upwards; bright yellow partial veil present in buttons (see the bottom illustration), soon disappearing or leaving a ring zone near the top.

Flesh: Thin, yellow.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste bitter.

Spore Print: Purple brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores: 6-8 x 3.5-5 µ; elliptical; smooth; with a pore. Pleurocystidia ventricose to mucronate, often with a long neck; with refractive contents; to 42 x 11 µ. Cheilocystidia fusoid-ventricose; to 32 x 10 µ.

Naematoloma fasciculare is a synonym.

REFERENCES: (Hudson, 1778 ex Fries, 1821) Kummer, 1871. (Fries, 1821; Saccardo, 1887; Smith, 1949; Smith, 1951; Smith, 1975; Stamets, 1978; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Weber & Smith, 1985; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Evenson, 1997; Barron, 1999; Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 10029601.

The very similar Hypholoma subviride is a southern mushroom described from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida, and the Gulf Coast. According to Smith, Smith & Weber (1985, 224), it looks "like stunted specimens" of Hypholoma fasciculare; "detailed studies of this group are needed to show if, in fact, a single variable species or two distinct ones are involved." The caps for Hypholoma subviride are 1-3 cm; spore sizes are virtually identical. A photo of Hypholoma subviride can be found at the Basidiomycetes of the Greater Antilles Web site.

Further Online Information:

Hypholoma fasciculare at MykoWeb
Hypholoma fasciculare at Roger's Mushrooms
Hypholoma fasciculare at Fungi of Poland

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2003, January). Hypholoma fasciculare. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hypholoma_fasciculare.html