A slender, long-stemmed mushroom with a sticky cap edged with whitish veil fragments, gills that darken to purple-gray, and a stem that is scaly below a grooved, downward-arching ring. The typical variety has a yellow-brown to creamy yellowish cap; var. thraustus is bright orange. It grows on woody debris in forests.
Saprobic, alone or in groups on woody debris, twigs and leaf litter in hardwood and conifer forests, and on hardwood mulch, sawdust and wood chips. Summer and fall.
Distribution
Europe and North Africa (var. squamosus occasional in Britain and Ireland, common in central Europe). Both varieties occur in North America, where var. thraustus appears to be the more common; MushroomExpert calls var. thraustus common in eastern North America with records from Washington and Utah.
Characteristics
Cap: 2-6 cm, convex becoming flatter; sticky when fresh; yellowish ochre to pale orange or yellow-brown to creamy yellowish (var. squamosus), pinkish orange to bright orange (var. thraustus); pale veil fragments near the margin. Gills: attached (adnate), fairly crowded; gray-brown becoming mottled purplish brown, edges whitish. Stem: 6-11 cm long, 4-9 mm thick (First Nature; up to 15 cm long for var. thraustus per MushroomExpert), hollow; white above, brownish below, with fibrous white scales below a persistent ring that is grooved on top and arches downward. Spore print: dark purple-brown to blackish. Spores: about 10-14 x 5-8.5 um, ellipsoid, smooth, with a germ pore.
