Pholiota gummosa - Sticky Scalycap

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Some of the Pholiota fungi – for example Pholiota squarrosa, the Shaggy Scalycap - grow on the lower trunk areas of living trees, and they can appear to be acting as parasites (although it is most likely that they are consuming wood that is already dead); others are more clearly saprobic as they occur on rotting stumps or on buried rotten wood, and the Sticky Scalycap is one of the latter.

Like most other fungi in the family Strophariaceae, this is an inedible mushroom.

Identification Guide

Cap	2 to 5cm across; pale cream or beige to light ochre with olive tints; convex, becoming flatter and sometimes retaining a small umbo; covered in large dark ochre scales spaced well apart.
Gills	Adnate; cream becoming rusty brown.
Stem	3 to 8cm tall and 0.5 to 1cm dia.; cream or pale beige, flushed brown towards base; covered in fibrous scales below the ring zone.
Spore print	Brown.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On moss-covered rotting stumps and dead roots.
Season	June to November.
Occurrence	Fairly common.
Similar species	Pholiota squarrosa has much larger scales on its cap, and it grows most often on damaged areas of the lower trunks of living trees.