Names, authorship and dates from Index Fungorum.

• BasidiomycotaPhylum
• └─ AgaricomycetesClass
• └─ AgaricalesOrder
• └─ PhysalacriaceaeFamily
• └─ ArmillariaGenus

Higher ranks from Catalogue of Life (COL26.9 XR).

At the base of living and dead trees, stumps and roots of broadleaves and conifers

⚠ Before you pickWild fungi may be taken in small quantities for your own use (§39(3) BNatSchG) — but not in nature reserves or national parks, on closed land or on farmland in use, and never for sale (§39(4)). In Bavaria this right is anchored in Art. 141(3) of the state constitution and is limited to locally customary amounts; the competent authority is the district nature-conservation authority (untere Naturschutzbehörde). Local signs and ordinances come first.

Species protection from BArtSchV Annex 1 and §2(1), retrieved 2026-10-15; Red List from Dämmrich et al. (2016) (BfN / Rote-Liste-Zentrum). Not legal advice — local rules and signage may be stricter. BArtSchV Annex 1 · Red List data

• edible when cooked
• edible mushroom
• medicinal mushrooms

Edible only after thorough cooking; some people are intolerant to it

• ▸ Honey-coloured to olive-brown caps growing in dense clusters at the base of trees
• ▸ White to cream decurrent gills
• ▸ Zigzag ring or ring zone on the upper stem
• ▸ Dark, dense scales in the middle of the cap

A weakly parasitic fungus whose black, bootlace-like rhizomorphs spread through the soil and can kill trees — the mycelium of a single colony can rank among the largest living organisms on Earth.