Phil Bendle Collection:Hypholoma fasciculare (Sulphur tuft)

Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Strophariaceae
Genus: Hypholoma
Species: H. fasciculare
Binomial name: Hypholoma fasciculare
Synonyms: Agaricus fascicularis, Naematoloma fasciculare
Common name: Sulphur tuft, Clustered woodlover

Hypholoma fasciculare is a saprophagic small gill fungus that grows prolifically on the stumps, roots or on logs of both deciduous and coniferous trees. In New Zealand, it occurs all year round but is mainly found during summer and autumn.
Its cap is up to 7cm in diameter and its stem can be up to 10cm tall. The cap’s surface is smooth and a sulphur-yellow colour that develops a green tint, then blackening. It is initially convex, then it flattens and often umbonate. The caps flesh yellowish
Gills are first a yellowish-green, then they become a purple-black; crowded and adnate.
The stem is the same colour as the cap, it is cylindrical and usually curved.
Hypholoma fasciculare grows in dense tufts with the lower caps becoming discoloured from the black spores of those above.

Hypholoma fasciculare is poisonous due to a toxic steroid. The symptoms of poisoning begin up to 5-10 hours after eating and include impaired vision, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, proteinuria, convulsions and paralysis. Symptoms generally resolve over a few days though there have been a few cases of death.

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Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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