A rubbery, peach to salmon-pink gilled mushroom of rotting elm and other hardwood logs, whose gelatinous cap is wrinkled into a network of pale ridges and whose stem often bleeds red or orange droplets. This is the European species: Species Fungorum, following Birkebak et al. (2026, Murrillia 2(2)), treats North American material, long recorded under this name, as Rhodotus reticeps. It has become rarer as elms declined after Dutch elm disease and is Red-Listed in many European countries.
Inedible; bitter and generally listed as inedible or of unknown edibility (First Nature; Wikipedia). It is legally protected in Hungary and Red-Listed in much of Europe, so it should not be collected.
Help build this page
This page grows with the community. Here is what it is still missing:
Photos. None yet — moderators review each photo before it appears.Sign in to add a photo
Sightings. Spotted it in the wild? Add it to the map.Open the map
Strains. No public strains of this species on WeMush yet.
Track Your Own Netted Rhodotus Grows
Join WeMush to log cultivation data, discover strains, and connect with fellow growers.
Never eat a wild mushroom based on a web page — confirm with an expert.
Habitat
Saprobic on well-rotted trunks and branches of hardwoods, usually fallen elms, also maple, basswood and horse chestnut. July to November in Britain and Ireland.
Distribution
Europe: Britain and Ireland (mostly southern England), Scandinavia, Germany, Poland, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia; also reported from Iran, Korea, Japan and New Zealand (Wikipedia). The Baltic states regard it as regionally extinct. North American records under this name belong to R. reticeps (Species Fungorum; Birkebak et al. 2026, Murrillia 2(2)); Wikipedia has not yet adopted this split.
Characteristics
Cap: 5-10 cm, almost globose when young, then convex with an inrolled margin and finally nearly flat; pink becoming peach; thick, gelatinous, peelable skin usually wrinkled into a net of ridges. Gills: adnate to free, moderately spaced, pinkish. Stem: 3-7 cm long, 1-1.5 cm thick, paler than the cap, curved, without a ring, with whitish fibrils; often exuding red or orange droplets. Flesh: whitish tinged pink to orange, rubbery. Odor: indistinct; taste bitter. Chemical reaction: green with iron salts. Spore print: very pale pink. Spores: 5-7 um, globose, finely warted, inamyloid (First Nature).
