ToxicStrophariaceae
Hypholoma fasciculare
Sulphur tuft
Bright yellow clustered wood rotter, very bitter and gastrointestinally toxic.
- Cap
- Convex to flat, 2-7 cm, sulphur yellow with a tawny centre.
- Gills
- Crowded, sulphur yellow turning greenish then purple-brown.
- Stem
- 40-100 mm, yellow above, rusty below, with a faint ring zone.
- Flesh
- Yellow, very bitter.
- Spore print
- Purple-brown
- Habitat
- Dense clusters on stumps and dead wood of both hardwood and conifer.
- Distribution
- Worldwide in temperate regions.
- Season
- Almost year round, peaking in autumn.
- Bruising
- None.
- Odour
- Not distinctive.
Key features
- ▪Sulphur yellow cap and greenish gills
- ▪Dense clusters on wood
- ▪Intensely bitter taste
Field tests
- Purple-brown spore print but no bluing and yellow flesh
Edibility
Toxic. Causes severe vomiting and, rarely, liver damage.
Warning
Its purple-brown spore print can falsely reassure someone checking only spore colour.
Photo and feature-based identification is probabilistic. Never consume a wild mushroom on the basis of an app result — confirm with an experienced mycologist.