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Yellow-capped mushroom on a log
Hygrophoropsis or Gymnopilus Genus
Angles captured. 5 frames of one subject.
Morphology
One fruitbody. Cap 5–7 cm, clear golden yellow to ochre, plane and slightly depressed, smooth. Gills now legible: deep golden-ochre, narrow, crowded, and running distinctly down onto the stipe. Stipe pale yellow, slender, 6–8 cm, arising from the top of a large rotten log.
Habitat & substrate
On a long, heavily decayed mossy log. Saprotrophic.
Lookalikes & what rules them out
Crowded decurrent orange-ochre gills on a yellow stipe, fruiting from rotten wood, narrows this considerably. Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca (false chanterelle) has repeatedly forking decurrent orange gills; Gymnopilus has crowded rusty gills and a bitter taste. Hygrocybe is excluded — its gills are thick, waxy and well spaced, not crowded like these.
To confirm this identification
Whether the gills fork repeatedly (Hygrophoropsis) and whether the flesh is bitter (Gymnopilus). A spore print separates them outright — white to cream versus rusty orange.
Notes
Upgraded. Full resolution resolved the gills, which rules out the waxcaps and brings this to genus level.
Found at Wachusett Meadow Wildlife Sanctuary, Princeton, MA on Saturday, 8 August 2026 at 10:30. See the full walk for that day's weather and everything else recorded.
Others in this group
Witch's butter on a mossy logTremella mesenterica · Nov 27High
Tiny orange mushrooms at a boulder baseUnidentified small orange agaric · Jul 31Low
Orange-and-yellow waxcapHygrocybe sp. · Aug 1Moderate
Tiny orange mushrooms at a boulder base — revisitUnidentified small orange agaric · Aug 1Low
Small orange mushrooms on a rotting logUnidentified small orange agaric · Aug 6Low
Small orange mushroom on a log — upperUnidentified small orange agaric · Aug 6Low
Small orange mushroom on a log — lowerUnidentified small orange agaric · Aug 6Low
Orange waxcap troop at a boulderHygrocybe sp. · Aug 6Moderate