Xerula radicata - Rooting Shank

Taxonomy

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Class: Agaricomycetes

Order: Agaricales

One of the early-fruiting wood rotters, Xerula radicata (synonym Oudemansiella radicata) is a tall and very graceful mushroom. The stem has 'hidden depths': this woodland beauty usually has as much of its stem below the forest floor as above.

The majority of wood-rotting fungi show a marked preference for either hardwoods or softwoods, but I have found Rooting Shanks under conifers and almost as frequently under deciduous broadleaf trees.

Xerula is a very small genus with just four species recorded in Britain, and of these Xerula radicata is by far the most common.

Identification Guide

	Cap Pale grey-brown to mid brown; 4 to 10cm across; convex or bell-shaped, becoming flatter and umbonate; sticky when moist, drying silky with radial wrinkles.
	Gills Adnate with a decurrent tooth; distant; pale cream with browner edges. Stem 10 to 20cm long and 0.5 to 1cm dia., base rooting in buried wood; finely grooved; white at apex, browner near base; no ring.
Spore print	Pale cream.
Odour/taste	Not significant.
Habitat	Rooting on rotten wood, often buried deep beneath leaf litter.
Season	Summer and autumn.
Occurrence	Fairly common and widespread.
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