Pholiota alnicola - Alder Scalycap

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Pholiota alnicola, an uncommon species occurring on dead or dying alder trees, is on the increase as many alder trees are now infected by a fungal disease of the Phytopthora genus. It is one of the least scaly of the so-called scalycaps.

Look out for this and other alder-associated fungi beside rivers and lakes and in alder carr (wet) woodland. (The specimens shown here were on a fallen alder beside a small river in West Wales.)

Identification Guide

	Cap 2 to 8cm in diameter, bright yellow and with a greasy surface in wet weather. Veil fragments often cling to the cap margin.
	Gills A cortina-like veil covers the gills of young caps. The crowded adnate gills are lemon yellow, turning cinnamon as the spores develop. Stem 5 to 10mm in diameter and 3 to 7cm tall; lemon-yellow becoming rust-tinged towards the base; smooth surface, with a pale ring zone (retaining fragments of the partial veil). The stem is solid with fibrous yellow flesh.
Spore print	Brown.
Odour/taste	No distinct odour; taste is rather bitter.
Habitat	On stumps and dead trunks and branches of alder, willow and birch; beside streams and lakes and in other shaded, damp places.
Season	September to December.
Occurrence	Infrequent.
Similar species	Kuehneromyces mutabilis can be very similar, although its cap is usually two-toned. It also has a more obvious sign zone and a dark tan stem below the ring zone; its gills are ochraceous when young, becoming cinnamon at maturity.