How to tell Conifer tuft from Sulphur tuft

Cap 2–7 cm across, conical or bell-shaped in young mushrooms, then flattened. Sulphur yellow or egg-yolk yellow, often orange-brown in the center. Surface smooth, moist, without scales. Margin uneven, in young mushrooms joined to the stem by a cobwebby veil.

Cap 3-7 cm across, hemispherical with an inrolled margin when young, becoming convex with a low umbo over time. Color ocher yellow to yellowish brown, darker toward the center to orange-brown, the margin paler. Surface smooth, slightly sticky in wet weather. The cap skin does not peel.

Gills crowded, yellow or yellow-green at first, then darkening to gray-green or brownish olive — this is the key feature that distinguishes it from the edible honey fungus (whose gills are whitish or cream). Spore print purplish brown.

Gilled hymenophore — the gills are attached to the stem, moderately crowded. When young they are grayish white, becoming with age gray-lilac, ash gray, purplish gray as the spores ripen. They never turn sulfur yellow or greenish — this is what fundamentally sets this species apart from the poisonous sulphur tuft. Spore print dark purple-brown to blackish brown.

Stem thin, 4–10 cm tall, 0.4–0.8 cm thick, yellowish in the upper part, brownish or rusty below, fibrous. No ring, or a faint fibrous ring that soon disappears — the lack of a distinct ring sets it apart from honey fungus.

Stem 4-8 cm tall, 0.5-1 cm thick, cylindrical, often curved. Color ocher yellow at the top, darkening with age to rusty brown toward the base. Surface with fine lengthwise fibers. Ring faint or absent — young specimens may have a thin fibrous ring zone. Several stems are often fused at the base into a cluster.

Flesh yellowish, thin, bitter-tasting — very bitter when raw. But cooking removes the bitterness while the toxins remain, so in a finished dish the mushroom won't give itself away.

Flesh meaty in the cap, yellowish, more fibrous in the stem. When cut it does not change color. Smell and taste pleasantly mushroomy, without bitterness. This is another diagnostic feature against the sulphur tuft, whose flesh is bitter.

Smell mushroomy but indistinct, so it is of little help in identification.

Pleasantly mushroomy, with no distinctive notes and no bitterness.