Gymnopilus penetrans - Common Rustgill

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Most of the rustgills seen in pine forests and other coniferous plantations are Common Rustgills, and they seem to like one another’s company: find one and you are likely to spot dozens more nearby. They grow on rotting stumps, fallen branches and the forest floor where conifer debris has become buried beneath needle litter. Sawdust or wood chippings provide an equally acceptable fare for these fiery fungi.

The Common Rustgill is inedible and may even be poisonous; certainly some Gymnopil;us fungi have been found to contain seriously poisonous chemicals.

Identification guide

Cap	4 to 8cm across; becoming flatter and sometimes developing a shallow central depression; silky smooth or occasionally felty but not breaking up into scales; various shades of fiery orange-brown, lighter at rim.
Gills	Adnate; crowded; initially yellow, soon turning reddish-brown with rusty-brown spots.
Stem	4 to 7cm long and 0.6 to 1.2cm in dia.; yellowish, becoming flushed orange-brown; with fine longitudinal fibres; no ring.
Spore print	Rusty brown.
Odour/taste	Faint fruity small; stronger when the flesh is cut. Bitter taste
Habitat	On stumps in coniferous woodland; very occasionally on hardwoods. This species is becoming increasingly common because it grows on wood-chip mulch that is now so polular with gardeners as a means of controlling weeds in shrubberies.
Season	June to November.
Occurrence	Very common.
Similar species	Gymnopilus junonius is larger and retains a stem ring; it occurs in woodland habitat, but unlike Gymnopilus penetrans it is seen more often on hardwood stumps and ailing trees, and only occasionally on conifers. Phaeolepiota aurea is a rare mushroom with a granulase cap and lower stem; its spores are light yellow-brown.