Hypholoma

Hypholoma
	Hypholoma fasciculare
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Strophariaceae
Genus:	Hypholoma; (Fr.) P.Kumm. (1871)
Type species
	Hypholoma fasciculare; (Huds.:Fr.) P.Kumm. (1871)
Species
	See text
Synonyms
	Naematoloma P.Karst. (1880)

Hypholoma is a genus of fungi which are quite well known due to the commonness of sulphur tuft (Hypholoma fasciculare) on stumps in temperate woodlands. Species in this genus are easily recognizable because the dark spores create a distinctive greenish effect on the yellow cap underside. Hypholoma means "mushrooms with threads" because of the thread-like veil that connects the cap to the stem when young and for the bundles of rhizomorphs which radiate outwards from the stem base. Other well-known species are H. capnoides and H. lateritium.

Fungi of this genus vary in their edibility for humans; some are edible and tasty, some unpalatable, and some outright poisonous. Members of this genus have also been recorded as occasional food of the pleasing fungus beetle Tritoma unicolor.

Synonyms

Sometimes Hypholoma has not been considered a genus in its own right, but it has been grouped together with Stropharia and Psilocybe under the name of Geophila, Naematoloma, or Nematoloma.

General characteristics

The fruiting bodies mostly have a central stipe. Some are medium-sized and there are also smaller species. The caps range in colour from yellow/brown to brick red.
The spore colour is dark brown to black.
The cap is smooth.
The developing mushroom is enveloped in a veil, but in Hypholoma this can be seen only in very young examples. This means that there is no well-defined ring, and nor are there distinctive flakes on the cap, but there may be cottony ring zones on the stipe, sometimes coloured by the dark spores.
The genus is widespread throughout the world and its best known representatives grow on dead wood, whilst some others grow in moss, sometimes on moors.

Species

Gallery

Hypholoma capnoides
Hypholoma fasciculare
Hypholoma fasciculare
Hypholoma radicosum
Hypholoma in a deep hole in the crotch of a trunk of an Alder (Alnus).

References

↑ "Hypholoma (Fr.) P.Kumm. 1871". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
↑ Paul Stamets, Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, p. 239, Ten Speed Press, 3rd ed. (2000), ISBN 1-58008-175-4
↑ Goodrich, Michael A. and Springer, Charles A. (1999): The Pleasing Fungus Beetles (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) of Nebraska. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 25: 53-71.Fulltext
1 2 3 4 Miller, Orson K. (2006). North American mushrooms : a field guide to edible and inedible fungi. Internet Archive. Guilford, Conn. : Falcon Guide. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-1. Retrieved 2026-01-27.
1 2 3 4 5 Trudell, Steve (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Internet Archive. Portland, Or. : Timber Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-88192-935-5. Retrieved 2026-01-27.

[urlMycoBank:_Hypholoma-1] "Hypholoma (Fr.) P.Kumm. 1871". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2010-10-29.

[2] Paul Stamets, Growing gourmet and medicinal mushrooms, p. 239, Ten Speed Press, 3rd ed. (2000), ISBN 1-58008-175-4

[goodrich&springer1999-3] Goodrich, Michael A. and Springer, Charles A. (1999): The Pleasing Fungus Beetles (Coleoptera: Erotylidae) of Nebraska. Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences 25: 53-71.Fulltext

[:0-4] 1 2 3 4 Miller, Orson K. (2006). North American mushrooms : a field guide to edible and inedible fungi. Internet Archive. Guilford, Conn. : Falcon Guide. p. 240. ISBN 978-0-7627-3109-1. Retrieved 2026-01-27.

[:1-5] 1 2 3 4 5 Trudell, Steve (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Internet Archive. Portland, Or. : Timber Press. p. 205. ISBN 978-0-88192-935-5. Retrieved 2026-01-27.

Authority control databases
International	GND
National	United States Israel