Cap |
The cap diameter ranges from 4 to 20 cm;
initially convex with an in-rolled margin, it eventually flattens but
often retains a slight umbo (central raised area).
Radial orange or apricot-coloured fibres on a yellow or sienna
background give the cap an overall golden appearance, which darkens
towards orange brown as the fruit body ages.
The colour of the cap flesh is cream to straw-yellow, and it is firm
and quite thick. |
Gills |
A yellow cortina covers the gills of the
immature fruit bodies, breaking and shrivelling to leave fragments
around the rim of the cap and around the stipe.
The crowded gills are adnate with broad attachment to the stipe. They
are straw yellow to buff at first, changing to a bright rusty colour as
the spores mature. |
Stipe |
The robust stipe is the same colour as the
cap; its surface is fibrous below the ring, which soon gathers spores
and turns rusty brown.
At the base, the stipe is either bulbous or clavate (club shaped),
and the stem is solid with yellow flesh. |
Spore print |
Rusty brown. |
Odour/taste |
Faint fruity small; stronger when the flesh
is cut. Bitter taste |
Habitat |
On stumps in deciduous woodland; very
occasionally on conifer stumps. |
Season |
June to November. |
Occurrence |
Fairly common. |
Similar species |
- Gymnopilus penetrans is yellow-brown, much smaller and
lacks a stem ring; it occurs in similar habitat, but unlike Gymnopilus
spectabilis it is very more frequently seen on conifer stumps
and sawdust heaps.
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