Destructive scales (Pholiota populnea)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Strophariaceae (Strophariaceae)
- Genus: Pholiota (Scaly)
- Species: Pholiota populnea (Destructive scales)
- Other names for the mushroom:
- Poplar scale
- Poplar scale
Synonyms:
Pholiota destruens
Poplar scale
Poplar scale
Destructive scales grow on stumps and drying trunks of deciduous trees, in groups. Fruiting from August to November. Distribution - the European part of Russia, Siberia, Primorsky Krai. An active wood destroyer.
The cap is 5-20 cm in ∅, convex-rounded , yellowish-whitish or light brown, with wide white fibrous scales that disappear when fully ripe. The edge of the cap is fibrous , sinuous .
The pulp is white , yellowish-brown at the base of the leg . The plates are first white, then dark brown, adherent or weakly descending along the stem, frequent.
The leg is 5-15 cm high, 2-3 cm ∅, sometimes eccentric, thinned towards the top and swollen towards the base, the same color as the cap, covered with large flaky white scales, subsequently disappearing, with a white, flaky ring that disappears when fully ripe.
Habitat: Destructive scales grow from mid-August to late September on living and dead wood of deciduous trees (aspen, poplar, willow, birch, elm), on stumps, logs, dry trunks, usually singly, rarely, annually.
The destructive scaly fungus is inedible .
The smell is unpleasant. The taste is bitter at first, sweet by the time of ripening.