Velvet foot is a mushroom with orange-brown caps that grows in clusters on dead hardwood, and it's one of the few you can find in the dead of winter, sometimes even pushing up through snow. Its stalk turns dark and velvety toward the base, and although it's edible, it's easily confused with the deadly galerina. It's also known as velvet shank or wild enoki.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Caps are 1–2 in (2.5–5 cm) wide or larger, orange to reddish brown and darker in the center, and sticky and shiny when wet. Gills are whitish to pale yellow. The stalk is 2–3 in (5–8 cm) long, yellowish at the top, and brownish black and velvety below.
Look-alikes
Deadly galerina has a ring on the stalk, though it can wear away, yellowish to rusty-brown gills, and a rusty-brown . Velvet foot has no ring, whitish gills, a white spore print, and a dark velvety stalk base.
Why they get mixed upBoth are small brownish mushrooms that grow in clusters on wood, sometimes close together. The galerina is deadly.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- dead hardwood logs
- stumps
- dying trees
- Range
- Widespread in North America and Europe. In Missouri it occurs statewide.
- Preferred conditions
- Grows in clusters on dead or dying hardwoods, especially elm, and also on ash, beech, and oak.
- When to see it
In Missouri
Active Oct–May
Behavior
- Activity
- Fruits in the cold season, about October through May in Missouri, and often appears during winter warm spells.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Leaves a white spore print. The fungus lives as threads inside rotting wood and breaks the wood down.
Cautions
- Cautions
- It is edible, but foragers are warned against picking it because it is easily confused with the deadly galerina.
Name and classification
- About the name
- The white enoki sold in stores was long treated as this species. DNA work published in 2018 showed the Asian enoki is a separate species, Flammulina filiformis. Store-bought enoki is grown in dark jars, which is why it has long, thin white stems and tiny caps.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
More species to explore
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