Tapinella atrotomentosa - Velvet Rollrim

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Family: Tapinellaceae

Only an occasional find in southern Britain and Ireland, this large wood-rotting mushroom is a very common sight on pine stumps in the Caledonian Forest. The specific epithet is a reference to the unusual surface of the stem: atro means black and tomentosa means covered with short, dense, matted hairs – in short, velvety!

Formerly grouped with the mycorrhizal rollrims such as Paxillus involutus, the Velvet Rollrim bore the name Paxillus atrotomentosus.

Identification guide

Cap	Initially a rounded cap with an eccentric stem, expanding and developing an irregularly scalloped and wavy inrolled margin; surface finely felty; golden-brown to orange-brown with darker patches; 10 to 30cm across.
	Gills Decurrent - often deeply so; crowded; creamy-yellow, turning brown. Stem 3 to 8cm long and 4 to 7cm dia.; velvety; grey, brown or black; no ring.
Spore print	Brown.
Odour/taste	Odour not distinctive; inedible and possibly poisonous, so tasting this very distinctive mushroom is inadvisable and certainly unnecessary for identification purposes.
Habitat	Under pines and occasionally other conifers..
Season	June to November.
Occurrence	Frequent in Scotland; occasional further south.
Similar species	Paxillus involutus, the Brown Rollrim, is smaller and has brownish gills that darken when bruised; its fibrous stem is not velvety.