Tricholomopsis decora - Prunes and Custard

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

Quite a rare find in southern Britain and Ireland, although more common in Scotland, this beautiful but inedible mushroom grows on conifer stumps, fallen trunks and branches and (as in the picture below, taken at RSPB headquarters at Sandy, in Bedfordshire, England) untreated pine fence posts that are well past their sell-by date.

Closely related to Tricholomopsis rutilans, or Prunes and Custard, this unusual find is in a less flamboyant way just as beautiful.

Identification Guide

Cap	Golden yellow, covered with fine grey-brown scales concentrated towards the centre of the cap; convex, becoming broadly umbonate or almost flat at maturity, often with a shallow central depression; margin slightly wavy when fully expanded; 4 to 10cm dia.
Gills	Yellow; sinuate; crowded.
Stem	Yellow background covered in fine brown scales; 5 to 10cm tall and 0.6 to 1.6cm in dia.; no ring.
Spore print	White.
Odour/taste	Not distinctive.
Habitat	On pine stumps and fallen branches.
Season	June to October.
Occurrence	Uncommon.
Similar species	The close relative Tricholomopsis rutilans, commonly known as Plums and Custard, has wine-red cap and stem scales on a yellow background; it is much more common than Prunes and Custard and occurs on most kinds of rotting conifer timber.