Key to Gilled Mushrooms KeyThis is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.
Agaricales OrderFruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)
Strophariaceae Family
Diagnosis
- Growing in dense clusters, often of very many mushrooms, on wood
-
Cap usually 1-2" across; sometimes strongly colored; not as fragile as Psathyrella
-
Gills smoky (black in age) or greenish yellow
Comments
The big question of confusion with this genus is with Psathyrella. Psathyrellas don't grow in dense clusters, although there may be a substantial troop of them on any given substrate; also, most of them are more fragile than Hypholomas, and Hypholomas never have veil fragments on their caps or hanging from the cap margin. Psathyrellas are also much greyer and colorless in general
Also, hey, there are only four Hypholomas recognized here, and that's pretty much all you're going to find anywhere. If it does'nt fit one of these descriptions, it's almost certainly a Psathyrella
Narrow down your identification:
Hypholoma capnoidesCap a warm, biscuity brown to yellow brown
Gills smoky
Taste mild
Growing on conifer wood
Hypholoma fasciculareCap bright yellow, sometimes browner in the center (rarely as brown as these)
Gills greenish yellow
Taste bitter
Hypholoma radicosum
Hypholoma sublateritiumCap rosy red in center
Gills smoky
Taste mild
Growing on deciduous wood
