# Ringless Honey Mushroom

*Desarmillaria caespitosa*

While the mushrooms above ground last only a couple of weeks, the underground mycelium can live for centuries and span several acres.

- **Taxonomy:** Fungi › Basidiomycota › Agaricomycetes › Agaricales › Physalacriaceae › Desarmillaria
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** stable
- **Biome:** forest
- **Habitat:** Deciduous forests, growing in dense clusters on hardwood stumps, logs, or buried roots.
- **Diet:** Saprotrophic (decomposing dead wood) and parasitic (attacking living trees).
- **Range:** North America, Europe, Asia
- **Size:** Caps 2 to 10 cm wide; stems 5 to 15 cm long; grows in massive clusters.
- **Lifespan:** Fruiting bodies live 1-2 weeks; underground mycelial network can live for over 100 years.
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Habitat loss, clear-cutting of hardwood forests, and extreme drought.
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless to touch, but do not consume unless identified by an expert, as it has toxic lookalikes like the Jack-o'-Lantern mushroom. Must be thoroughly cooked if consumed, as raw specimens cause severe stomach upset. If accidental poisoning is suspected, seek immediate medical attention.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/323d0f45-aa98-4760-9c30-435913660920
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/1238700

- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/169790105/medium.jpg (no rights reserved, CC0, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.