Bulbous Honey Fungus - Armillaria gallica

Alternative names
Armillaria lutea
Description

The caps are ochre-yellow or tawny brown, scattered with fine yellow scales with darker tips.  The stipe has a bulbous base. There is a short-lived white cobwebby ring at the top of the stipe, reminiscent of a Cortinarius species. 

Similar Species

other Armillaria species: Dark Honey fungus Armillaria ostoyae and Honey fungus  Armillaria mellea.  (In the past it has been considered to be a variety of A mellea, but is now treated as separate species)

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Photograph from top down, in side view and from underneath to show gills and full length of stipe.  Note habitat and substrate.

Habitat

On woodland litter, dead stumps and buried rotting wood of broad leaf trees.

When to see it

June to November.

UK Status

Widespread but never particularly common in Britain.

VC55 Status

Occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Bulbous Honey Fungus
Species group:
fungus
Kingdom:
Fungi
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Physalacriaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
5
First record:
11/11/2012 (Nicholls, David)
Last record:
05/10/2025 (Wright, David)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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