Velvet shank or Golden scalycap

Cap 2-8 cm, hemispherical at first, then convex-expanded to flat. Color yellow-orange, honey-yellow, darker in the center and paler toward the edge. In wet weather it is slimy and shiny; in dry weather, somewhat matte. The cap skin peels off easily.

Cap 4-12 cm across, hemispherical with an inrolled margin in young mushrooms, becoming convex to almost flat with age. Color: golden-orange, honey-yellow, with darker reddish-brown flattened scales arranged in concentric rings. In wet weather the cap surface is slightly slimy. In young mushrooms the cap margin carries remnants of a whitish veil.

Gilled hymenophore. Gills crowded, thin, adnate or slightly decurrent. Whitish to cream, turning yellowish with age. Spore print white — an important diagnostic feature for telling it apart from the poisonous funeral bell (whose spore print is rusty brown).

The hymenophore is made of gills — attached to the stem, moderately crowded. When young they are light yellow, darkening with age to rusty brown as the spores ripen. Spore print rusty brown. In young mushrooms the gills are covered by a whitish cobweb-like veil, which tears and leaves a ring-like remnant on the stem.

Stem 3-7 cm tall, 0.3-0.8 cm thick, slender, cylindrical, often curved, hollow inside. A telltale feature — a velvety dark brown surface, especially lower down (the upper part is paler, yellowish). There is no ring — this is the crucial difference from the funeral bell.

Stem 5-12 cm tall, 0.8-1.5 cm thick, cylindrical, often curved from growing on the vertical surface of a trunk. Color: yellow at the top, dark rusty toward the base. On the stem there is a ring zone from veil remnants (not a true ring, but a zone with scales). Below the ring zone the brown scales are more pronounced.

The flesh is thin and yellowish in the cap, fibrous and springy in the stem. It doesn't change color when cut. It has a pleasant mild flavor.

The flesh is firm, yellow, becoming tough in the stem with age. It does not change color when cut. The smell is distinctly mushroomy and pleasant in young specimens. The taste is mild at first, then slightly bitter — the bitterness disappears after boiling.

Faint, pleasant mushroomy smell. Taste mild and delicate.

Pleasant and mushroomy, with a light nutty or resinous note in young specimens. In old ones — sharper, sour and astringent.