Spectacular Rustgill - arboreal mushroom, unfortunately inedible

This beautifully colored arboreal mushroom is hard not to notice. The eye-catching orange-yellow or ocher color contrasts strongly with the dark background of the tree.

We can meet the fungus in late summer, even at the end of July in European conditions, but most often it appears in September and grows even until December, when it is warm.

It can be looked for mainly on deciduous trees, mainly oak or beech, it is rarely found on pine. It grows in groups in clumps at the base of trees, in roots, on trunks.

Its hat can reach up to 10-12 cm in diameter. It is most often orange or ocher in color. The surface is matte. It doesn't have a hump. The young mushroom is semicircular, with age it opens and becomes flat.

Often also in old fruiting bodies, the cap takes on a purple color. When it rains, the hat becomes slippery, shiny and slimy.

Initially pale yellow, the gills turn brown during the period of rust spore shedding. They are narrow and dense.

The cylindrical leg can reach a length of up to 20 cm. Inside, it is full, yellowish in color and covered with dark scales and fibrils. There is a distinct ring at the top of the stem.

Due to the very bitter taste of the flesh, the mushroom is inedible. The flesh is very fleshy, and its smell is characteristic and clear, reminiscent of radish.