Deadly
Deadly Galerina
Galerina marginata
Galerina is smaller and brown rather than brick red, has a ring on the stem, and leaves a rusty brown spore print instead of purple-brown. It contains amatoxins.
Brick Cap
Hypholoma lateritium
Edible
Also called brick tuft, brick top, hypholoma sublateritium.
The brick cap grows in clusters on dead hardwood stumps and logs, often after the first frosts. Its brick-red cap and gray to purple-brown gills separate it from the bitter, poisonous sulphur tuft, which looks similar and grows in the same places.
The tell
Clusters of brick-red caps with a paler edge on hardwood stumps late in the fall, with grayish gills and a purple-brown spore print.
Field marks
What to look at
Cap, underside and stem show in a photo. The spore print does not, and it is often the deciding check.
- Cap
- Convex to flat, 1 to 4 inches across. Brick red at the center, fading to buff or yellowish toward the edge, which carries whitish veil fragments when young.
- Underside
- Gills attached and close. Whitish to grayish yellow when young, becoming purple-gray and then purple-brown. No green tint.
- Stem
- Pale yellowish above and reddish brown below, often curved, joined in clusters. A faint ring zone from the veil may darken with spores.
- Flesh
- Pale yellow to whitish. Taste documented as mild to slightly bitter.
- Spore print
- Purple-brown.
- Size
- Cap 1 to 4 inches (2.5 to 10 cm); stem 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 cm) tall.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- In clusters on stumps, logs and buried wood of hardwoods, especially oaks, in forests and wooded parks.
- Grows on
- Dead hardwood.
- Season
- Late summer through late fall, often after the first frost.
- Range
- Widespread east of the Rocky Mountains, less common in the West.
Lookalikes
What the brick cap gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Toxic lookalikeSulphur Tuft
Hypholoma fasciculare
Sulphur tuft has a sulfur-yellow cap and greenish-yellow gills, and its flesh is intensely bitter. Both share a purple-brown spore print, so gill color is the key.
Edible when well cookedHoney Mushroom
Armillaria mellea
The honey mushroom has white gills, a distinct ring on the stem and a white spore print.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible
North American field guides list the brick cap as edible. Because it shares a spore print color and habitat with the poisonous sulphur tuft, guides use cap and gill color to tell them apart.
This page states what field guides record. It is not advice to eat, taste or handle anything, and a photo cannot settle edibility. If someone has eaten a wild mushroom that may be toxic, call poison control (1-800-222-1222 in the US) right away, before symptoms start: the deadliest species act hours later.
FAQ
Questions about the brick cap
Is brick cap mushroom edible?
North American field guides list it as edible. It is easily confused with sulphur tuft, which is poisonous and grows in the same kinds of clusters on dead wood.
How do you identify brick cap?
Look for clusters on dead hardwood with brick-red caps that fade paler toward the edge, whitish veil remnants on young caps, grayish gills with no green tint, and a purple-brown spore print.
When does brick cap grow?
Late in the season, from late summer through late fall. It often keeps fruiting after the first frosts, when few other mushrooms are around.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Hypholoma sublateritium
MushroomExpert.com
- Hypholoma lateritium
Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)
- Hypholoma lateritium
Index Fungorum
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