Phylum: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Physalacriaceae
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.
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CapPale 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. |
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GillsAdnate with a decurrent tooth; distant; pale cream with browner edges. Stem10 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. |
Similar species |
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