A large, slimy, orange-yellow to tawny Pholiota with flat, spot-like scales that grows on trunks and logs of hardwoods and conifers. It is very hard to separate from Pholiota limonella and P. adiposa without measuring spores, and the relationship among these names is unresolved.
Not recommended. Edibility is not well documented in current sources, and the yellow scaly Pholiota group is hard to identify. Some related scaly Pholiota species have caused gastrointestinal upset.
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On trunks and logs of hardwoods (such as maple, basswood, elm, sycamore, beech and birch) and conifers; in Britain most often on beech, including stumps and fallen branches. June to November in North America.
Distribution
Reported across North America, including New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Ontario; also Europe and Asia. North American identifications rely on spore size.
Characteristics
Cap: 4-16 cm, bell-shaped to convex, often broadly umbonate, viscid to gelatinous, ochre-orange to tawny with appressed, spot-like scales. Gills: close, yellowish becoming rusty brown. Stem: 5-8 cm x 5-15 mm, dry, with recurved fibrillose scales increasing toward the base. Spore print: rusty brown. Microscopy: spores about 7-9.5 (11) x 4.5-6 µm, larger than those of P. limonella; pleurocystidia present.
