Brick Cap

(Hypholoma lateritium)

Conservation Status
Brick Cap
Photo by Honey Fae (Farah)
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Brick Cap is a common, late season, medium-sized, gilled mushroom. It occurs in Europe, Japan, eastern Australia, and North America. In the United States it occurs east of the Great Plains, and there are a few records of it in Colorado, the Pacific Northwest, and central California. It is found in tight clusters from August through November. It grows on decaying stumps and logs of hardwoods. It obtains its nutrients from dead wood (saprobic) and probably also from living wood (parasitic).

When it first appears, the cap is convex and brick red in the middle, fading to pinkish to buff on the margins. The upper surface is hairless and may be dry or moist. The margins are curved inward and sometimes there are flaky shreds of tissue, remnants of the partial veil, hanging from the margin. As it ages, the cap expands, becoming broadly convex to nearly flat. Mature caps are 1¼ to 4 (3 to 10 cm) in diameter.

The gills are closely spaced, attached to the stalk, and forked once or twice. They are whitish at first, soon becoming pale gray to gray, then purplish-gray to dark purple as the spores mature. Between the main gills there are short gills that do not extend to the stalk.

The stalk is 1½ to 4¾ (4 to 12 cm) long and to ¾ (1 to 2 mm) thick. It is yellowish to whitish and bald or finely hairy toward the top, brown to reddish-brown and bald below. There is no ring but there is often a ring zone near the top where the partial veil attached to the stalk. The ring zone may be persistent and clearly visible, may require a hand lens to see, or may disappear completely as the mushroom matures.

The flesh is firm and whitish to yellowish. A young, insect free mushroom is edible when cooked. However, it should be avoided due to its similarity to poisonous species, including Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) and Funeral Bell (Galerina marginata).

The spore print is purplish-brown.

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare)

 
     
 
Habitat and Hosts
 
 

Hardwoods

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Season

 
 

August through November

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

4, 24, 26, 29, 30, 77.

 
  1/2/2023      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
  Kingdom Fungi (fungi)  
  Subkingdom Dikarya  
  Division Basidiomycota (club fungi)  
  Subdivision Agaricomycotina (jelly fungi, yeasts, and mushrooms)  
  Class Agaricomycetes (mushrooms, bracket fungi, puffballs, and allies)  
  Subclass Agaricomycetidae  
  Order Agaricales (common gilled mushrooms and allies)  
  Suborder Agaricineae  
  Family Strophariaceae  
 

Genus

Hypholoma  
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Agaricus carneolus

Agaricus sublateritius

Hypholoma perplexum

Hypholoma sublateritium

Naematoloma lateritium

Naematoloma sublateritium

Pratella lateritia

Psilocybe lateritia

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

Brick Cap

Brick Top

chestnut mushroom

cinnamon cap

kuritake

red woodlover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Partial veil

A protective covering over the gills or pores of a developing mushroom. At maturity it disappears, collapses into a ring around the stalk, or wears away into a cobwebby covering and ring zone.

 

Saprobic

A term often used for saprotrophic fungi. Referring to fungi that obtain their nutrients from decayed organic matter.

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Honey Fae (Farah)

 
    Brick Cap      
           
 
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Other Videos
 
  Brick Caps and Salmon Waxy Caps - Mushroom Identification With Adam Haritan
Learn Your Land
 
   
 
About

Dec 19, 2015

Brick caps (Hypholoma lateritium) and Salmon Waxy Caps (Cuphophyllus pratensis) are two edible mushroom species that can be found in the autumn months. In this video, I show you how to accurately identify these two fine lookin' creatures of the wild.

 
  Wild mushrooms of Europe: Hypholoma lateritium
Nature and consciousness
 
   
 
About

Jan 10, 2019

I go through the forests, mountains, hills, fields, and waters to understand the living world and to create a living mind.

Sometimes I find this fungus through the snow and ... it's a real beauty. Like a queen. Like a bowl with peaches, who luring you ...

Like an illusion, coming early, to guide you for a all life.

And then, when you get older, it's too late to start from the beginning.

But, let's see, this illusion, a little closer. It's only a metaphor. Of Corse...

Let's see this fungus …

The cap is cross 3-10 cm in diameter, usually with a brick-red coloration in the center.

The color on the margins is lighter..

It is smooth, convex, flattening out at maturity, sometimes with red-brown flecks, in the middle...

sometimes with flaky veil remnants.

The gills of Hypholoma lateritium, latin name of this mushroom, are adnate, crowded; Their color depends on age.

The gills starting yellowish and becoming olive-grey and then purplish brown, with age.

Stem is 5 to 10cm long and 1cm in diameter, the stalks of Hypholoma lateritium are fibrous;

It is light ochre at apex, darkening progressively to a reddish-brown to base;

It has not o ring, but a faint ring zone is usually discernable.

The Spore print is Purple-brown.

No significant odour.

The taste can be bitter.

The mushroom is saprobiotic, grow in small tufts or occasionally singly, on hardwood stumps, particularly oaks, and on buried roots, or on exposed roots of dead hardwood trees.

About toxicity:

There is some controversy over the edibility of this fungus.

Like, in fact, at the most mushrooms.

The European guides refer this fungus as inedible. In North America and Japon, however, after some references, these are good edible fungi...if picked young.

But, they are considered suspect or inedible by most references and if eaten may possibly cause stomach upsets.

Personally, I have never consumed this fungus and, at least from this point of view, I do not recommend it.

As we see, the bridge between good and evil is ... questionable.

At least, as long as, we do not have enough teaching.

Remember, Hypholoma lateritium and Hypholoma sublateritium are the one and the same fungus. It's a synonym.

Goodbye, Mrs. Hypholoma lateritium!

Goodbye, to all of you!

 
  How to Identify Brick Cap Mushrooms (Hypholoma Lateritium)
Explore Around Us
 
   
 
About

Nov 29, 2022

Brick Caps, or Bricktops, are the mushroom species Hypholoma Lateritium. It is NOT psychedelic, this is a gourmet edible mushroom. Please do not eat mushrooms based on this video alone, please do your research and make sure you can tell it apart from poisonous and deadly mushrooms such as the Deadly Gallerina. Do not eat any mushrooms that you are even .1% unsure about. Verify through multiple sources and guides. This was the largest cache of mushrooms I’ve ever found in one location! I hope you enjoy my genuine excitement!

 

 

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  Honey Fae (Farah)
7/11/2022

Location: Hennepin County

Brick Cap

 
           
 
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Created: 1/2/2023

Last Updated:

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