Poplar Scalycap

Pholiota populnea

On aspen snags, windfalls, stumps. Autumn, summer, sometimes even spring.

Fruiting bodies large, fleshy. Cap 8-15 (20) cm across, massive, whitish, cream, scaly, fibrous, and the margin strongly white-shaggy. Gills greyish-brown, later chocolate-coloured, adnate. Stem 5-7 (9)x1.5–5 cm, white, white-fibrous, shaggy. Characteristic features: massive fruiting bodies, stem short, thick, shaggy, flesh up to 3 cm thick, with an unpleasant smell and bitter taste. Grows in small groups, favouring abraded, damaged places of roadside trees, as well as of aspens (poplars), snags and stumps. Although very fleshy, it is inedible. Uncommon. A wood saprotroph, an impressive, attractive fungus, just don't hurry to put it in your basket.