Deadly
Deadly Galerina
Galerina marginata
Galerina is smaller, with a smooth brown cap, a thin ring, and a rusty brown spore print. The honey mushroom's spore print is white. Galerina contains amatoxins, the same liver toxins as the death cap.
Honey Mushroom
Armillaria mellea
Edible when well cooked
Also called honey fungus, bootlace fungus.
The honey mushroom fruits in large clusters on stumps, roots and the bases of hardwood trees in fall. It is a tree parasite that spreads by black, bootlace-like strands, and it is often confused with the deadly galerina, which grows in the same places.
The tell
Dense clusters of honey-colored caps on wood, with a ring on the stem and a white 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, flattening with age, 1 to 4 inches across. Honey yellow to yellow-brown, often darker at the center, with small dark hairs or scales concentrated toward the middle. Slightly sticky when wet.
- Underside
- Gills attached or running slightly down the stem, fairly crowded. White to cream at first, often developing pinkish or brownish spots with age.
- Stem
- Tough, fibrous and tapering toward the base, which is often fused with other stems in a cluster. A white, cottony to membranous ring sits near the top, sometimes with a yellowish edge.
- Flesh
- White, thin in the cap and tough in the stem. Black, root-like strands (rhizomorphs) are often found under the bark of the host tree.
- Spore print
- White.
- Size
- Cap 1 to 4 inches (3 to 10 cm); stem 2 to 6 inches (5 to 15 cm) tall.
Where and when
Where and when it grows
- Habitat
- On and around living, dying and dead hardwoods, especially oaks, and occasionally conifers. It also fruits from buried roots in lawns and gardens where trees once stood.
- Grows on
- Wood: stumps, roots, and the bases of living or dead trees.
- Season
- Late summer through fall.
- Range
- East of the Great Plains and along the Pacific Coast, with several closely related honey mushroom species across the rest of North America.
Lookalikes
What the honey mushroom gets confused with
Each card says how to tell the two apart.
Toxic lookalikeJack-o'-Lantern
Omphalotus illudens
The jack-o'-lantern is bright orange throughout, including the flesh, has sharp-edged gills that run down the stem, and has no ring. It causes severe vomiting and diarrhea.
Toxic lookalikeSulphur Tuft
Hypholoma fasciculare
Sulphur tuft has sulfur-yellow caps and greenish-yellow gills that darken to purple-brown, leaving a purple-brown spore print. Its flesh is bitter.
Edible when well cookedRingless Honey Mushroom
Desarmillaria caespitosa
A close relative with a similar look and the same white spore print, but its stem has no ring at any age. It is most common in the Southeast.
Edibility
What the field guides say
Edible when well cooked
Field guides list the honey mushroom as edible when thoroughly cooked. The same guides record gastrointestinal upset when it is eaten raw or undercooked, and in some people even when well cooked. Its most dangerous lookalike, the deadly galerina, contains amatoxins and grows on the same kinds of wood, which is why guides stress the white spore print.
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 honey mushroom
Is honey mushroom poisonous?
Field guides list it as edible when thoroughly cooked, but it causes stomach upset when eaten raw or undercooked, and some people react to it even when cooked. The bigger risk is confusion with the deadly galerina.
How do you tell honey mushroom from deadly galerina?
By spore print. Honey mushrooms print white; deadly galerina prints rusty brown. Galerina is also smaller, with a smooth brown cap and a thin, fragile ring.
Do honey mushrooms kill trees?
Yes. Armillaria species cause Armillaria root rot, which weakens and kills hardwoods and some conifers. The fungus spreads underground and under bark by black, bootlace-like rhizomorphs and keeps feeding on the wood after the tree dies.
Sources
Where these facts come from
- Armillaria mellea
MushroomExpert.com
- Armillaria mellea
Fungi Growing on Wood, Gary Emberger (MushroomExpert.com)
- Honey Mushroom
Missouri Department of Conservation
- Armillaria mellea
Index Fungorum
Also on Mushrooms.id
Related species
Toxic lookalike
Big Laughing Gym
Gymnopilus junonius
A large, orange-yellow cluster on wood with a ring on a thick stem and a rusty orange spore print.
Edible
Brick Cap
Hypholoma lateritium
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.
Entoloma abortivum
Photo coming
Edible
Shrimp of the Woods
Entoloma abortivum
Whitish, lumpy, irregular balls with marbled pinkish insides, growing near honey mushrooms.
Edible
Velvet Foot
Flammulina velutipes
Sticky orange-brown caps on dead hardwood in cold weather, on stems that turn dark brown and velvety from the base up.
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