About this fungus
Alder Scalycap is a fungus in the Strophariaceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A clustered wood-rotting mushroom with smooth yellow to golden caps, pale yellow young gills that mature rusty brown, and a faint veil zone on the stem. Despite the common name, it is not restricted to alder.
What to check
Check that the caps are smooth and greasy when wet, the gills change from pale yellow to rusty brown, and young fruit bodies show a fine partial veil that leaves only a weak ring zone. There is no volva. Record the wood species and photograph the cap, underside and complete stem.
Variation
Caps range from lemon yellow to golden, olive-yellow or rusty brown and can retain darker spots or veil fragments near the margin. The ring zone is easily lost. Some authorities use a broader species-group concept that includes closely related yellow wood-inhabiting taxa.
Lookalikes
Kuehneromyces mutabilis usually has a more clearly two-toned cap, a stronger ring and a darker scaly lower stem. Sulphur Tuft, Hypholoma fasciculare, can share the clustered yellow appearance and is poisonous. Gymnopilus and other rusty-spored wood fungi are also possible.
Habitat and range
Saprotrophic in clusters on dead or dying wood, especially alder, birch, willow and other broadleaved trees, with occasional records from conifer wood. It occurs across temperate parts of Europe, North America and Asia, but regional species-group boundaries vary.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
Dave in NE PA / CC BY-SA 3.0Species to compare
Similar mushrooms to compare against: