Brick Cap
Hypholoma lateritium
In Japan, they are known as 'Kuritake' (chestnut mushroom) and are highly prized for cultivation, though wild Western specimens are often too bitter to eat.
- Scientific name
- Hypholoma lateritium
- Taxonomy
- Fungi › Basidiomycota › Agaricomycetes › Agaricales › Strophariaceae › Hypholoma
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Decaying hardwood stumps, logs, and buried roots in temperate deciduous forests.
- Diet
- Saprotrophic (decomposes dead organic wood, particularly oak, beech, and chestnut).
- Range
- North America, Europe, Japan
- Size
- Cap diameter of 3 to 10 cm; stem length of 5 to 12 cm.
- Lifespan
- Mycelium network can live for decades; individual fruiting bodies last 1 to 3 weeks.
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Over-clearing of deadwood in managed forests, habitat fragmentation, and loss of old-growth deciduous trees.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to touch, but do not consume. While some foragers collect them, they are easily confused with toxic look-alikes and can cause gastrointestinal distress. Enjoy their vibrant colors from a safe distance, and if accidentally ingested, contact poison control immediately.
Hypholoma lateritium , sometimes called brick cap , is rarer and less well-known than its relatives, the inedible, and poisonous sulfur tuft ( Hypholoma fasciculare ) and the edible Hypholoma capnoides . Its fruiting bodies are generally larger than either of these. Hypholoma sublateritium is a synonym.
Photo: mycowalt, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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