How to tell Sulphur tuft from Jack-o'-lantern mushroom

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.

The cap is 5-15 cm across, convex-conical with an inrolled edge in young mushrooms, later becoming funnel-shaped with a thin wavy edge. The color is bright orange, yellow-orange, brick, darker in the center. The surface is smooth, shiny in wet weather, without scales. The cap edge is thin.

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: true crowded decurrent gills (not pronounced ridges like in a true chanterelle), yellow-orange, matching the cap. They run down the stem. The spore print is pale cream to yellowish. In the dark they may glow faintly with a pale green light (bioluminescence driven by luciferase enzymes).

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.

The stem is 5-12 cm tall and 1-2 cm thick, cylindrical, often tapering toward the base, frequently curved. The color is yellow-orange, matching the cap or slightly paler. The surface is smooth, without a ring. 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.

The flesh is dense, yellow-orange; when cut it does not change color. The smell is faint, mushroomy, without unpleasant notes. The taste is mild at first, then bitterish, an additional warning sign.

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

Faint and pleasantly mushroomy. It does NOT have the characteristic fruity apricot aroma of a true chanterelle. That is the key diagnostic difference.