THIS DATA HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY AN EXPERT. Use at your own risk.
Birch knightTricholoma fulvum
Passport
- Hymenophore
- Gilled
- Cap colour
- Brown
- Size
- Medium (5–15 cm)
✓ Conditionally edible
Most often confused with: Yellow knight (poisonous).
Quick answers
Where to look?
When does it appear? Europe
Description
The birch knight (Tricholoma fulvum), found in older books as Tricholoma flavobrunneum, grows with birch, and guides disagree about whether it's edible. Some European books list it as edible but poor, while Swedish and North American guides call it inedible. We don't recommend picking it: the sticky brown knights include poisonous species, and only several features together tell them apart.
How to identify it. The cap is 4–12 cm across, reddish brown to yellowish brown, darker in the centre and paler, more yellow towards the margin, with fine radial fibres. It's sticky and shiny when wet, matt when dry, and the margin is often grooved. The gills are yellowish and pick up rusty spots with age. The most reliable feature is inside: cut the stem lengthways and the flesh is yellow. Other brown knights have white flesh. The stem is streaked with brown fibres, becomes hollow when old and has no ring. The smell is mealy, like flour.
Where and when it grows. The birch knight forms mycorrhiza with birch, so look for it in birch woods and in broadleaf and mixed woodland with birch, especially in damp places: woodland edges, boggy ground, peaty soil and moss. It grows singly, in groups, in rows or in partial rings. It's common and widespread across Europe, Ukraine included. It appears from late summer through autumn, most abundantly in early and mid autumn, and occasionally as early as summer, making it one of the first knights of the year.
Is it edible? There's no clear answer. Some authors call it edible but of poor quality, and in Norway it's even appreciated. Others list it as inedible and note that larger helpings may upset the stomach. We found no confirmed poisoning case caused by this species itself. Cooking won't help if a toxic relative has slipped into your basket.
What it can be confused with. The most dangerous look-alikes are also brown and sticky. Tricholoma pessundatum grows under pine and spruce, has whitish gills and flesh, and causes gastrointestinal poisoning. The burnt knight (Tricholoma ustale) grows mostly under beech, has creamy white gills and white flesh that browns when cut; in Japan it's one of the mushrooms most often behind poisonings. After these knights, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea usually start within a few hours. If that happens, call 112 (999 in the UK) and keep any leftover mushrooms for the doctors.
The yellow knight also has yellow gills, but they're bright sulphur yellow and the cap is yellow olive, and it's poisonous. The poplar knight grows only under poplars. The matt knight has a dry, matt, finely scaly cap and grows under conifers. The scaly knight is dry and fibrous with a shaggy cap margin and grows under spruce and pine. The brown rollrim also grows under birch, but its gills run down the stem, bruise brown when touched, and its spore print is brown.
Cap
The cap is 4–12 cm across, occasionally up to 15 cm. Young caps are convex, then flatten, often with a low umbo, and can be slightly sunken in the centre.
The colour is reddish brown to yellowish brown: darker in the centre, paler and yellowish at the margin. Fine brown fibres radiate from the centre. The skin is sticky, slimy and shiny in wet weather and matt when dry. The margin is often grooved, and old caps may crack into small scales.
Hymenophore
The gills are crowded, fairly broad and notched where they meet the stem. Young gills are pale yellow or yellowish white, and with age they develop rusty brown spots, with brownish edges.
Yellowish gills are unusual in the genus: most knights, including the poisonous brown ones, have white or cream gills. The spore print is white.
Stem
The stem is 4–13 cm tall and 0.7–2 cm thick, cylindrical, sometimes thickening towards the base. It's coloured like the cap but paler, yellowish brown, lighter at the top, and streaked with darker brown lengthways fibres.
Young stems are solid and slightly sticky; old ones become hollow. There is no ring and no volva.
Flesh
The flesh is firm. It's whitish to pale yellow in the cap and distinctly yellow in the stem, and that's the easiest way to tell the birch knight from other brown knights, whose flesh is white. It doesn't change colour when cut. The taste is mealy, sometimes slightly bitter.
Smell
The smell is mealy, like raw dough, sometimes with a hint of cucumber. It's not much help for identification: some poisonous brown knights smell of flour too.
›Scientific synonyms (5)
Tricholoma flavobrunneum (Fr.) P. Kumm., Tricholoma nictitans (Fr.) Gillet, Agaricus fulvus DC., Agaricus flavobrunneus Fr., Gyrophila fulva (DC.) Quél.
Don’t mix them up
Birch knight lookalikes and comparison
Compare with another mushroom| Feature | Birch knight | Yellow knight |
|---|---|---|
| Hymenophore | Gilled | Gilled |
| Cap colour | Brown, Chestnut, Rusty | Yellow, Olive, Green |
| Smell | Floury | Floury |
| Edibility | Conditionally edible | Poisonous |
Other lookalikes
Poplar knightConditionally ediblecomparison →
Matt knightConditionally ediblecomparison →- Scaly knightConditionally ediblecomparison →
Brown rollrimPoisonouscomparison →- Tacked knightPoisonouscomparison →
Readers’ finds · 0
Readers’ photos aren’t checked by an expert. “Confirmed” means foragers in the feed agree — not a guarantee. When in doubt, leave it.
Related species
Mushrooms of the same genus and habitat — to study side by side and never mix up.
Booted knight
Tricholoma focale
Charbonnier
Tricholoma portentosum
Giant knight
Tricholoma colossus
Grey knight
Tricholoma terreum
Soapy knight
Tricholoma saponaceum
Tiger tricholoma
Tricholoma pardinum
Tricholoma caligatum
Tricholoma orirubens
Frequently asked questions
Is the birch knight edible?
There's no clear answer. Some European guides list the birch knight (Tricholoma fulvum) as edible but poor, and in Norway it's even appreciated, while Swedish and North American guides call it inedible and some authors say larger helpings may upset the stomach. We found no confirmed poisoning caused by this species itself. Still, we don't recommend picking it, because the sticky brown knights include poisonous species.
How do you identify the birch knight?
The most reliable feature is inside: cut the stem lengthways and the flesh is yellow, whereas other brown knights have white flesh. The gills are yellowish and pick up rusty spots with age. The cap is 4 to 12 cm across, reddish brown to yellowish brown, darker in the centre, sticky when wet, often with a grooved margin. The stem is streaked with brown fibres and has no ring. It smells of meal and grows with birch.
How do you tell the birch knight from the burnt knight?
The burnt knight (Tricholoma ustale) grows mostly under beech, has creamy white gills and white flesh that browns when cut. The birch knight grows with birch, has yellowish gills and yellow flesh in the stem. The difference matters: the burnt knight is one of the mushrooms most often behind poisonings in Japan, causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea within a few hours.
How is the birch knight different from the tacked knight?
Check three things. The tree: the birch knight grows with birch, the tacked knight (Tricholoma pessundatum) with pine and spruce. The gills: yellowish in the birch knight, whitish in the tacked knight. The stem flesh: yellow in the birch knight, whitish in the tacked knight. Both are brown, sticky and smell of meal, so don't rely on the cap or smell. The tacked knight causes gastrointestinal poisoning, so if in doubt, leave it.
How do you tell the birch knight from the yellow knight?
Both have yellow gills, but the yellow knight's are bright sulphur yellow and its cap is yellow olive. The birch knight's gills are pale yellowish with rusty spots, and its cap is reddish brown. The yellow knight favours pine on sandy soil, the birch knight birch. We don't recommend eating the yellow knight: muscle breakdown has been reported after several meals of it in a row.
How do you tell the birch knight from the brown rollrim?
The brown rollrim also grows under birch and can be brown with yellowish gills, but its gills run down the stem and bruise brown when touched, its cap margin is strongly inrolled and its spore print is brown. The birch knight's gills are notched at the stem and its spore print is white. Mixing them up is dangerous: the brown rollrim is poisonous and can trigger a serious immune reaction that destroys red blood cells.
Where does the birch knight grow?
The birch knight forms mycorrhiza with birch, so look for it in birch woods and in broadleaf and mixed woodland with birch, especially in damp places: woodland edges, boggy ground, peaty soil and moss. It grows singly, in groups, in rows or in partial rings, and is common and widespread across Europe.
When does the birch knight appear?
From late summer through autumn, most abundantly in early and mid autumn, and occasionally as early as summer, which makes it one of the first knights of the year. Even in a good season, remember that guides disagree about whether it's edible, and we don't recommend collecting it.
Sources
- [1]Index Fungorum
- [2]GBIF
- [3]iNaturalist Ukraine
- [4]First Nature, Pat O'Reilly
- [5]Wikipedia (English)
- [6]Википедия (русская)
- [7]Prylutskyi O. et al. Reference-based checklist of gilled Agaricales from Ukraine. Biodiversity Data Journal, 2023, 11: e99101, Prylutskyi O. et al. (2023)
- [8]Wikipedia (de): Gelbblättriger Ritterling
- [9]Wikipedia (de): Brandiger Ritterling
- [10]Svampguiden: Birch Knight (Tricholoma fulvum)
- [11]First Nature: Tricholoma ustale, Burnt Knight
- [12]Heilmann-Clausen J. et al. Taxonomy of Tricholoma in northern Europe based on ITS sequence data and morphological characters. Persoonia, 2017, 38: 38–57, Heilmann-Clausen J., Christensen M., Frøslev T.G., Kjøller R. (2017)
- [13]Diaz J.H. Syndromic diagnosis and management of confirmed mushroom poisonings. Critical Care Medicine, 2005, 33(2): 427–436, Diaz J.H. (2005)