# 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.

- **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.

## About

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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/730f6a30-e0c8-4362-9303-684789a30d91
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/130203
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypholoma lateritium
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/13077486/medium.jpeg (mycowalt, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist)

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