Flammulina velutipes - Velvet Shank

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

The lovely orange-brown caps of Flammulina velutipes continue fruiting through the winter. Commonly known as Velvet Shank, this is a stump-rotting fungus; it also occurs on standing dead wood.

To see a cluster of these splendid golden-orange caps sprinkled with snow on a crisp winter's morning makes a walk in the cold air very worthwhile indeed. We have seen them in good condition as late as the end of January.

Identification Guide

Young caps of Flammulina velutipes - Velvet Shanks

The young fruit bodies shown here will press against one another and become distorted as they develop; this is often the case when Velvet Shank grows on fallen timber. On standing dead trees the clusters are usually tiered and, as a result, the caps more regular. Flammulina velutipes is particularly common on dead elm trees (of which there has been no shortage in recent years), but it also occurs on oak, beech and other kinds of hardwood.

The caps from these fungi are edible, and they are now grown commercially in Japan, where they are known as 'Enoko-take'.

	Cap 2 to 10cm across and often distorted because of neighbouring caps in the cluster, these bright orange caps are somewhat darker in the centre. Slimy in wet weather, the caps dry to a smooth sheen.
	Gills Adnate and broad, the gills are white at first becoming pale yellow as the fruiting body matures.
Stem	The dark stem is tough and covered in a fine velvety down.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On stumps and trunks of dead hardwood trees and occasionally on diseased living trees.
Season	From autumn through winter and into early spring.
Occurrence	Common.
Similar species	Kuehneromyces mutabilis, the Sheather Woodtuft or Brown Stew Fungus, has a similar cap but darker gills and brown spores.