Shaggy scalycapPholiota squarrosa
Also known as: Shaggy Pholiota, Scaly Pholiota
Passport
- Hymenophore
- Gilled
- Cap color
- Yellow
- Size
- Medium (5–15 cm)
Inedible
Most often confused with: Honey fungus (conditionally edible).
Quick answers
Where to look?
How to recognize it? Three signs
- Cap color: Yellow, Pale yellow, Brown
- Cap shape: Convex
- Smell: Radish-like, Garlic
Description
The shaggy scalycap (Pholiota squarrosa) is hard to miss: a tight cluster of straw-yellow caps thickly covered in brown scales that stick out and curl upward like feathers. It grows at the base of broadleaf trees, on roots and stumps, most often beech, maple, birch or ash, and sometimes spruce. Because it grows in clusters and has a ring on the stem, people often take it for honey fungus, and some even call it that.
Guides disagree about whether it's edible. Ukrainian sources call it edible but of low quality, to be boiled first and then pickled or salted. British mycologists say it's definitely not one to eat, and American researchers of the genus Pholiota noted its unpleasant taste. There's also a documented case of stomach poisoning after people ate it with alcohol. Our advice is simple: leave the shaggy scalycap in the woods.
The species is widespread in Europe wherever old or weakened broadleaf trees grow. It's a saprotroph that breaks down wood and also a weak parasite: it only settles on a living tree once that tree is already weakened. The season runs from August to November, so it comes up at the same time as honey fungus. The cluster in our photos grew among fallen leaves beside a young maple in a broadleaf wood.
Cap
The cap is 4–12 cm across, and large old ones can be bigger. It starts out convex with an inrolled margin, then opens up to broadly convex with age, though the margin stays rolled under for a long time.
The background is straw-yellow or ochre and densely covered in brown triangular scales. They don't lie flat: they stick out and curl upward, arranged roughly in concentric rings. The cap stays dry even in wet weather, and rain doesn't wash the scales off. That's what sets it apart from the golden scalycap, whose cap turns slimy and sticky in the rain.
Hymenophore
The gills are crowded and attached to the stem or running slightly down it. On young mushrooms they're pale greyish yellow and covered by a cobweb-like veil. Later they turn greenish yellow, and as the spores ripen they darken to a cinnamon or rusty brown.
The spore print is rusty brown. When the mushrooms grow in a cluster, the spores often settle as a brown dusting on the lower caps. Spores are the easiest way to tell it from honey fungus, which has a white spore print. They won't help with sheathed woodtuft, though: its spore print is brown too.
Stem
The stem is 6–15 cm tall and 0.7–1.5 cm thick, firm and often curved, because the mushrooms crowd each other in the cluster. Above the ring it's pale and smooth; below the ring it's covered in the same rusty, upturned scales as the cap, on a yellowish background. Toward the base it can darken to reddish brown.
The ring is fluffy, almost felt-like, and scaly as well. It doesn't last: it soon breaks into shreds, and on older mushrooms often only a ring zone is left.
Flesh
The flesh is firm and pale yellowish, fibrous in the stem. We cut one stem lengthwise: the flesh was light yellowish and didn't change color. The taste is bitterish, and some people find it plainly unpleasant.
Smell
The smell is noticeable: it often recalls radish, garlic or onion. Its strength varies, and some mushrooms smell only faintly.
The honey fungus and sheathed woodtuft it gets confused with both smell weak and unremarkable. So if a cluster at the foot of a tree smells of radish or garlic, that's a good hint you're looking at a scalycap.
›Scientific synonyms (4)
Agaricus squarrosus Oeder (1770), Agaricus floccosus Schaeff. (1774), Agaricus squamosus Bull. (1789), Dryophila squarrosa (Oeder) Quél. (1886)
Don’t mix them up
Lookalikes and comparison
Compare with another mushroom| Feature | Shaggy scalycap | Honey fungus |
|---|---|---|
| Hymenophore | Gilled | Gilled |
| Cap color | Yellow, Pale yellow, Brown | Yellow, Brown, Rusty |
| Smell | Radish-like, Garlic | Pleasant, mushroomy |
| Edibility | Inedible | Conditionally edible |
Other lookalikes
Sheathed woodtuftEdiblecomparison →
Golden scalycapConditionally ediblecomparison →
Dark honey fungusConditionally ediblecomparison →
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.
Slender pholiota
Pholiota spumosa
Brick tuft
Hypholoma lateritium
Conifer tuft
Hypholoma capnoides
Poplar fieldcap
Cyclocybe aegerita
Sulphur tuft
Hypholoma fasciculare
Agrocybe arvalis
Spring fieldcap
Agrocybe praecox
Verdigris agaric
Stropharia aeruginosa
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
Is the shaggy scalycap edible?
There's no clear answer. Ukrainian sources consider it edible but of low quality, while British mycologists advise against eating it. There's a documented case of stomach poisoning after it was eaten with alcohol. We recommend not picking it.
What is known about shaggy scalycap poisoning?
In 1965 the American mycologist Robert Shaffer described people who ate shaggy scalycap with alcohol and had vomiting and diarrhea about 10 hours later. Toxicologists later pointed out that this is too late for the known reaction between common ink cap and alcohol, so the mechanism is probably different. There's little data: essentially it's one old case. But it doesn't make the mushroom any tastier.
Where does the shaggy scalycap grow?
At the base of trees, on roots and stumps, most often broadleaf ones: beech, maple, birch, ash. It also turns up by spruce. It grows in tight clusters, often right in the fallen leaves, so it can look as if the mushrooms are coming up from the soil.
Does the shaggy scalycap harm trees?
Mostly it breaks down dead wood. But it can also settle on a living tree as a weak parasite, and it picks trees that are already weakened. That's a difference from honey fungus, which attacks healthy trees too.
When does the shaggy scalycap grow?
From August to November. That's the same time honey fungus comes up, so the two are easy to find side by side and easy to mix up.
Does its season overlap with sheathed woodtuft?
Partly. Sheathed woodtuft has a longer season, from April to October, while the scalycap appears from August. So from August to October you can meet both, and both like the wood of broadleaf trees.
How do you tell the shaggy scalycap from honey fungus?
The most reliable way is the spore print: white in honey fungus, rusty brown in the scalycap. Honey fungus also has no coarse upturned scales on either cap or stem, its ring is white and membranous, and black bootlace-like rhizomorphs are often visible at the base.
How is it different from the golden scalycap?
Look at the cap in wet weather. The golden scalycap's cap turns slimy and sticky, and its scales can wash off. The shaggy scalycap's cap stays dry, and its coarse upturned scales hold even after rain.
Is Shaggy scalycap edible or poisonous?
Does Shaggy scalycap have gills or pores?
What does the cap of Shaggy scalycap look like?
What does the stem of Shaggy scalycap look like?
Sources
- [1]First Nature, Pat O'Reilly
- [2]MushroomExpert.com, Michael Kuo
- [3]Вікіпедія (українська)
- [4]Wikipedia (English)
- [5]Smith & Hesler, The North American Species of Pholiota: Importance (edibility)
- [6]Shaffer R.L. Poisoning by Pholiota squarrosa. Mycologia, 1965, 57(2): 318–319, Shaffer R.L. (1965)
- [7]Ammirati J.F., Traquair J.A., Horgen P.A. Poisonous Mushrooms of the Northern United States and Canada, 1985, Ammirati J.F., Traquair J.A., Horgen P.A. (1985)