Orange Pinwheel

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed

Orange Pinwheel is a diminutive, common and widespread, gilled mushroom. It occurs worldwide on every continent except Antarctica. It occurs in the United States and southern Canada east of the Great Plains. It is common in Minnesota.

Orange Pinwheel is found in summer and fall, usually in groups but not clustered (gregarious), in hardwood forests. It grows on the ground under trees and shrubs on leaf litter and on woody debris. It sometimes grows on the needle duff of white pine. It gains its nutrients from decaying wood (saprobic).

In dry weather, the Orange Pinwheel mushrooms shrivel into a dried, almost invisible state. However, with the first drop of rain, they spring back to life, regaining their full size and shape. This “resurrection” ability often misleads people into thinking that new mushrooms have suddenly appeared, when in fact, they've been there all along, patiently waiting for the moisture they need to rehydrate.

The cap is 3⁄16″ to 1 3⁄16″ (5 to 30 mm) in diameter and obtusely cone-shaped, with a broadly rounded top and straight descending sides, to bell-shaped, with the margins flared outwards. It is distinctly pleated and there is usually a knob or a depression in the middle. It is orange when fresh, fading to pale orange as it ages. The surface is dry and without hairs or scales (bald).

The gills are white or pale yellowish, narrow, and very widely spaced. They are usually broadly attached to the stem (adnate) but sometimes not attached to the stem (free). Between the main gills there are sometimes short gills that do not reach the stem.

The stalk is 1″ to 2⅝″ (25 to 65 mm) long, and about 1⁄32″ (1 mm) thick, equal in size from top to bottom. It is wiry, dry, bald, and polished. It is pale or whitish at first, but it soon turns mostly dark brown to orangish black, remaining pale or whitish just at the top.

The flesh is thin. Though not poisonous, it is considered inedible because it is insubstantial and it sometimes leaves a bitter aftertaste.

The spore print is white.

Similar Species

Hardwood forests

Season

Summer and fall