Ochre brittlegill or Stinking brittlegill

Cap 4-10 cm across, convex with an inrolled margin when young, becoming flattened with a slightly depressed centre with age. The cap skin is matte, slightly slimy in wet weather, and peels back about 1/3 of the way to the centre. Colour: ochre-yellow, mustard-yellow, greyish-yellow, deeper toward yellow-brown at the centre, paler toward the margin. Mature caps fade to pale cream, and their margin develops fine radial grooves.

The cap is 5–12 cm across, up to 15 cm or more in big specimens. In young mushrooms it is rounded and firm, with the margin pressed against the stem, which is why it looks like a fist. It then becomes convex, later flat, with a shallow dip in the centre.

The colour is honey yellow, ochre or yellowish brown, often blotchy, and old caps develop reddish-brown to almost black spots. The surface is shiny, very slimy in wet weather and sticky as it dries. The margin carries deep radial grooves and small bumps, more pronounced the older the mushroom.

Gills attached or free, moderately crowded, thin, brittle. Colour: whitish at first, cream to pale ochre with age. Spore print pale cream to pale ochre.

The gills are cream or dirty white, turning yellowish with age and developing rusty and brown spots. They are brittle, free or narrowly attached, with short gills in between. In young mushrooms and after rain they often carry clear droplets that dry to brown dots.

The spore print is cream to pale yellowish. A brown print means it isn't a stinking brittlegill and could be the poisonous poisonpie.

Stem 4-7 cm tall, 1-2 cm thick, firm, cylindrical, hollow in old specimens. Colour: white to greyish-white, with faint greyish spots in old specimens. Surface smooth with lengthwise wrinkles. No ring.

The stem is 5–10 cm tall and 2–4 cm thick, cylindrical or barrel-shaped, white, spotted brown with age, especially at the base. It starts solid, but chambers with a dirty brown lining soon form inside, and an old stem is hollow and crumbly.

There is no ring and no volva at the base.

Flesh firm, brittle, white to cream. Does not change colour when cut, or slowly turns greyish. Smell faint, neutral, taste mild when young, often bitterish when mature.

The flesh is white and firm, later brittle, and either doesn't change colour when broken or slowly browns. The taste is bitter and burning, the gills most of all.

Faint and neutral, with nothing distinctive.

The smell is strong and unpleasant: rancid oil, and rotting fish or herring in old specimens. Some people compare it to a chlorinated swimming pool, others to raw potato. Similar brittlegills that smell pleasantly of bitter almonds are different species.