THIS DATA HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY AN EXPERT. Use at your own risk.
Wood pinkgillEntoloma rhodopolium
Also known as: Kusa-urabenitake
Passport
- Hymenophore
- Gilled
- Cap colour
- Grey
- Size
- Medium (5–15 cm)
POISONOUS
Eating it causes poisoning. Do not pick it unless you have identified it with certainty.
If you suspect poisoning, call your local emergency number (112 in the EU, 999 in the UK) immediately
Quick answers
Where to look?
When does it appear? Europe
Description
The wood pinkgill (Entoloma rhodopolium) is poisonous and not edible. It causes stomach and gut poisoning, often with heavy sweating and drooling. Its strong-smelling form, Entoloma nidorosum, is now usually treated as part of the same species. Don't confuse it with the livid pinkgill (Entoloma sinuatum), a larger, fleshier relative: both are dangerous, and both resemble several edible grey mushrooms.
How do you recognise it? The cap is 3–10 cm across, grey-brown, beige or olive-grey, convex at first, then flat with a low central bump, and later slightly dented in the middle. When wet it is darker and faintly lined at the edge; as it dries it fades a lot, almost to off-white. The gills are white in young mushrooms and turn pink with age, and the spore print is pink too. The stem is white, silky, thin and hollow, and snaps easily between your fingers. There is no ring and no cup at the base.
It fruits from midsummer to mid-autumn, most often in late summer and early autumn, in broadleaf and mixed woodland: under oak, beech, birch, lime, alder, willow and hazel, especially in damp spots. It grows singly or in groups and is widespread across Europe.
Why does it end up in baskets? While the gills are still white, the wood pinkgill looks like any ordinary grey mushroom. It is most often mistaken for the shield pinkgill, the miller, grey knights and the clustered domecap. One check is reliable: a spore print. Leave a cap gills down on white and dark paper for a few hours. A pink print points to a pinkgill or one of its relatives; knights and domecaps leave a white one.
How to tell it from its lookalikes. The shield pinkgill comes up in spring under plum, apple, hawthorn and blackthorn, while the wood pinkgill appears only from midsummer, in woodland. The miller also has a pink print, but its gills run down the stem and its cap is white to pale grey, as if dusted with flour. The grey knight has a mouse-grey, felty cap, the charbonnier has dark streaky fibres, and the gills of both stay white or grey, never pink. The clustered domecap grows in dense tufts with fused stems. The buttercap has a greasy, buttery-looking cap and a stem that swells towards the base.
What does it smell of? Often of almost nothing, sometimes faintly of flour, and in some mushrooms sharply of bleach or ammonia. That smelly form used to be treated as a separate species, Entoloma nidorosum. Edible relatives smell of flour too, so smell won't tell you which is which.
Symptoms come on quickly, usually from half an hour to a few hours after the meal: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain, often with heavy sweating, drooling, watery eyes and small pupils. It usually passes within a day, and no deaths appear in the modern data we checked, but it is harder on anyone with heart disease. What to do: call 112 (999 in the UK) straight away, say you ate wild mushrooms, and keep any leftovers or peelings for the doctors. If you fell ill six hours or more after eating, the meal may have contained something far more dangerous, such as a death cap, and that is an emergency.
Cap
The cap is 3–10 cm across and fairly thin-fleshed. Young caps are convex or bell-shaped, then flatten with a low, broad bump; in old mushrooms the centre sinks slightly, leaving the bump in the middle.
The colour is grey-brown, beige, yellowish grey or olive-grey. The cap is hygrophanous: dark when wet, with faint lines at the edge, fading almost to off-white as it dries, often in patches. The surface is smooth, a little sticky in damp weather and silky-shiny when dry.
Hymenophore
The gills are attached to the stem, sometimes running slightly down it, and moderately spaced. They are white in young mushrooms, turn pink with age and become dull pink in old ones.
The spore print is pink. This is what separates a pinkgill from grey knights, domecaps and funnels, which all leave a white print.
Stem
The stem is 4–10 cm tall and 0.5–1.5 cm thick, white or greyish, smooth and silky, with fine lengthwise fibres. It is stuffed at first, then becomes hollow and brittle and is easily crushed between your fingers.
There is no ring, no veil remnants and no volva. The very base can have a little white mycelial fluff.
Flesh
The flesh is white, thin and brittle, doesn't change colour when broken and has no milk. The taste is mild or mealy, not bitter.
Smell
The smell is indistinct or faintly of flour; in the smelly form (Entoloma nidorosum) it is sharp and chemical, like bleach or ammonia. Drying mushrooms smell unpleasant. Don't rely on smell: the edible mushrooms it is mistaken for smell of flour as well.
›Scientific synonyms (4)
Entoloma nidorosum (Fr.) Quél., Entoloma rhodopolium f. nidorosum (Fr.) Noordel., Rhodophyllus rhodopolius (Fr.) Quél., Agaricus rhodopolius Fr.
Don’t mix them up
Wood pinkgill lookalikes and comparison
Compare with another mushroom| Feature | Wood pinkgill | Livid pinkgill |
|---|---|---|
| Hymenophore | Gilled | Gilled |
| Cap colour | Grey, Brown, Cream, Olive | White, Cream, Grey, Yellow |
| Smell | Odourless, Floury, Chemical | Floury |
| Edibility | Poisonous | Poisonous |
Other lookalikes
Shield pinkgillConditionally ediblecomparison →
The millerEdiblecomparison →
Clustered domecapEdiblecomparison →
Grey knightConditionally ediblecomparison →
CharbonnierEdiblecomparison →
Butter capConditionally 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.
Spring pinkgill
Entoloma vernum
Tricholoma orirubens
Wood blewit
Lepista nuda
St George's mushroom
Calocybe gambosa
Poplar knight
Tricholoma populinum
Tiger tricholoma
Tricholoma pardinum
Soapy knight
Tricholoma saponaceum
Matt knight
Tricholoma imbricatum
Frequently asked questions
Is the wood pinkgill edible?
No, the wood pinkgill (Entoloma rhodopolium) is poisonous. It causes stomach and gut upset, often with heavy sweating, drooling and small pupils. Muscarine has been found in it, though most of the analyses were done on Japanese mushrooms that are not genetically identical to the European ones. None of the sources we checked describes it as edible. It ends up in baskets because, while its gills are still white, it looks like any ordinary grey woodland mushroom.
Is Entoloma nidorosum the same as Entoloma rhodopolium?
It depends on whose taxonomy you follow. Index Fungorum and GBIF treat nidorosum as a form or synonym of Entoloma rhodopolium, while a 2021 revision by Kokkonen and iNaturalist keep it as a separate species. In the field, nidorosum is the form that smells sharply of bleach or ammonia. For safety the split doesn't matter: all members of the group are treated as poisonous.
Are pink-gilled mushrooms poisonous?
Not all of them, but gill colour alone can't tell you which are safe. Pinkgills such as the wood pinkgill and the livid pinkgill are poisonous, while the miller, which also leaves a pink spore print, is edible. The wood pinkgill's gills are white when young and only turn pink later, so a white-gilled grey mushroom can still be one. A spore print, left for a few hours on white and dark paper, is the reliable check.
Wood pinkgill vs the miller: how can you tell them apart?
Look at how the gills meet the stem. The miller's gills run down the stem, its cap is white to pale grey and looks dusted with flour, and its stem is short and often off-centre. The wood pinkgill's gills are attached or notched, and its grey-brown cap fades a lot as it dries. Both leave a pink spore print and both can smell of flour, so neither print nor smell will separate them.
How is the wood pinkgill different from the livid pinkgill?
Both are poisonous pinkgills, but the livid pinkgill (Entoloma sinuatum) is large and fleshy, with a stout stem and a strong mealy smell, built rather like a field mushroom or a knight. The wood pinkgill is thinner and more fragile, with a hollow stem that snaps easily between your fingers. Both have gills that turn pink with age and a pink spore print, and neither should be eaten.
What are the symptoms of wood pinkgill poisoning?
Symptoms come on quickly, usually from half an hour to a few hours after the meal: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach pain, often with heavy sweating, drooling, watery eyes and small pupils. It usually passes within a day, and no deaths appear in the modern data we checked. It is harder on people with heart disease, and a slow pulse or difficulty breathing needs urgent hospital care.
What should you do if you've eaten a wood pinkgill?
Call 112 (999 in the UK) straight away, say you ate wild mushrooms, and keep any leftovers or peelings for the doctors. Treatment is a job for medical staff. Watch the timing too: if you fell ill six hours or more after eating, the meal may have contained something far more dangerous, such as a death cap, and that is an emergency.
Wood pinkgill vs shield pinkgill: what's the difference?
Mainly the season and the place. The shield pinkgill (Entoloma clypeatum) comes up in spring under plum, apple, hawthorn and blackthorn, while the wood pinkgill appears only from midsummer, in broadleaf and mixed woodland. The shield pinkgill is sturdier, with a fibrous stem; the wood pinkgill's stem is thin, hollow and fragile. Both have pink gills and a pink spore print, so a pinkgill found in woodland in summer or autumn should be left alone.
Sources
- [1]Index Fungorum
- [2]GBIF
- [3]First Nature, Pat O'Reilly
- [4]MushroomExpert.com, Michael Kuo
- [5]Wikipedia (English)
- [6]Вікіпедія (українська)
- [7]Википедия (русская)
- [8]Prylutskyi O. et al. Reference-based checklist of gilled Agaricales from Ukraine. Biodiversity Data Journal, 2023, 11: e99101, Prylutskyi O. et al. (2023)
- [9]Wennig R. et al.: Mushroom Poisoning, Dtsch Arztebl Int 2020, Wennig R., Eyer F., Schaper A., Zilker T., Andresen-Streichert H. (2020)
- [10]MHLW Japan: クサウラベニタケ (Entoloma rhodopolium), risk profile
- [11]IPCS INCHEM: Inocybe, Clitocybe, Omphalotus and others (muscarine), Poisons Information Monograph G028
- [12]Kondo K. et al. Molecular phylogenetic analysis of new Entoloma rhodopolium-related species in Japan and its identification method using PCR-RFLP. Scientific Reports, 2017, 7: 14942, Kondo K., Nakamura K., Ishigaki T. et al. (2017)
- [13]Kokkonen K. New northern records of Entoloma with three new species of subgenus Rhodopolia and typification of E. nidorosum. Karstenia, 2021, 59(1–2): 55–69, Kokkonen K. (2021)
- [14]Mycocharentes (Tanchaud 2024): Entoloma groupe rhodopolium
- [15]BioImages: Entoloma rhodopolium
- [16]Wikigrib: Энтолома продавленная