Flammulaster muricatus

Description

Flammulaster muricatus have a reddish-ochraceous-brown coloration, finely floccose stipe and cap. Grows solitary to scattered on or inside well-rotted hardwood trees, especially tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus). Not common, fall to spring.

These swarthy little toadstools are found in many parts of central and southern mainland Europe. A very similar mushroom, Flammulaster erinaceellus (Peck) Watling, is found in North America.

Flammulaster muricatus is poorly edible. The mushroom tastes mild.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   The cap of Flammulaster muricatus has a diameter of 1 to 3cm. Initially hemispherical with an in-turned margin, it becomes broadly convex as the fruitbody matures. The orange-brown cap surface is covered with pointed upright scales, while longer scales hang down from the margin.

2. Gills

   The moderately spaced sinuate gills (with a slightly decurrent tooth) start light ochre and become browner with age.

3. Stem

   Cylindrical, often curved, 0.8 to 2.5mm in diameter and 1.3 to 3.5cm tall, the stem is orange-brown and fibrous and scaly below a persistent ring.

4. Spores

   Ellipsoidal, smooth 6-9 x 4-5µm.

5. Spore Print

   Creamy cinnamon-brown.

6. Odor and Taste

   Very faint odor of Pelagoniums. Taste is indistinct but sometimes reported to be slightly bitter or metallic.

7. Habitat

   On dead wood of deciduous trees, particularly Fagus (Beech), in small troops or occasionally tufted.

8. Season

   June to November.

Look-Alikes

1. Phaeomarasmius erinaceus

   Has a dark reddish brown spiky tufted tomentose cap and stipe, growing on oak and tanoak.

2. Pholiota squarrosa

   Although the latter generally occurs in largish caespitose tufts.

History

In 1818 Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described this mushroom scientifically, giving it the name Agaricus muricatus. It was Scottish Roy Watling (b. 1938) who, in 1967, transferred this species to the genus Flammulaster, whereupon it acquired its currently-accepted scientific name Flammulaster muricatus.

Flammulaster, the genus name, comes from the Latin noun flammula, the diminutive of flamma, meaning a flame; while the specific epithet muricatus is also Latin and means muricate - in other words rough with short, hard points - a reference to the pointed scales on the caps.

Synonyms

1. Agaricus muricatus Fr.

2. Pholiota muricata (Fr.) P. Kumm.

3. Dryophila muricata (Fr.) Quél.

4. Naucoria muricata (Fr.) Kühner & Romagn.

5. Phaeomarasmius muricatus (Fr.) Singer

6. Flocculina muricata (Fr.) P.D. Orton

7. Flammulaster denticulatus P.D. Orton

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Dan Molter (shroomydan) (CC BY-SA 3.0)