About this fungus
Prunes and Custard is a fungus in the Tricholomataceae family. Its habitat and field characteristics are summarised below.
A yellow wood-decaying mushroom with yellow gills and a yellow cap dusted with fine grey-brown to blackish scales, usually growing on conifer logs or stumps.
What to check
Look for attached yellow gills, a yellow ringless stem and fine dark cap scales concentrated towards the centre. Confirm that the mushrooms arise from decaying conifer wood rather than soil.
Lookalikes
Plums and Custard, Tricholomopsis rutilans, is usually larger and has wine-red to purplish scales rather than grey-brown or blackish ones. Scale colour can fade, so substrate, size and the whole fruitbody should also be checked.
Habitat and range
Saprobic on conifer stumps and fallen logs across northern temperate regions, fruiting from summer into autumn. It is less frequently recorded than T. rutilans in much of Europe.
Food safety
Inedible.
Photographs
thinker / CC BY-SA 3.0