A small, bright golden-yellow mushroom of dead wood. When young its cap is granular to spiky with yellow fibrils, and its gills are white and distant. The species is pantropical and also widespread in eastern North America. It has received 28 names in 14 genera.
Saprobic, scattered to gregarious on dead wood of hardwoods (maple, oak) and conifers (pine, spruce); in temperate North America mostly July to September, over winter in warm climates.
Distribution
Pantropical, and widely distributed in eastern North America and southeastern Canada, with reports from Texas and the Southwest; apparently absent from the West Coast and the Pacific Northwest. Also recorded from Australia, China, Costa Rica, Hawaii, India, Japan, New Zealand and the Russian Far East; absent from Europe.
Characteristics
Cap: 0.6-2.7 cm, convex becoming nearly flat; dry; granular, powdery or spiky-fibrillose when young, becoming nearly bald; bright yellow to orange-yellow, aging brownish yellow; margin sometimes lined; KOH turns the surface pink. Gills: broadly attached or slightly decurrent, distant, white to pale yellow. Stem: 1-4 (up to 6.7) cm long, 1-4 mm thick, equal or tapering, often slightly swollen at the base; finely granular, colored like the cap or paler. Flesh: whitish to yellowish; odor and taste not distinctive. Spore print: white. Spores: about 7-11 x 5-7 um, ellipsoid to lemon-shaped, smooth, inamyloid (MushroomExpert.com; Wikipedia).
