Edible mushroom - intermediate Season - winter Common names Velvet shank, winter mushroom, velvet stem, velvet foot, wild enoki, wild enokitake
Scientific name meaning: Flammulina is derived from the Latin Flamma, meaning a flame. Velutipes is from the Modern Latin Velutinus, meaning velvety
Habitat  Velvet shank is a saprobic fungus found on dead or dying deciduous wood. |
Overall structure and growth  A small mushroom with a thin stem and slimy domed cap. It grows in tight clusters. |
Cap  Orange-coloured and darker in the centre, the caps are 2 to 10cm. They are convex and often squashed up by neighbouring caps. They are very slimy when wet and sticky to smooth when dry. |
Gills and spores  The adnate gills (broadly attached to the stem) are a white at first and turn cream to pale yellow with age. They are quite widely spaced. The spore print is white. |
Stem  The stem is only a few millimetres thick, is tough and is covered in fine down. It turns brown with age but can stay pale near the cap. It can reach 8cm tall and has no skirt/ring. |
Flesh, smell and taste  The firm flesh is cream to brown coloured. The smell and taste are mild. |
Possible lookalikes  Could be confused with the deadly poisonous funeral bell (Galerina marginata), pictured, but this has a fragile stem ring, a brown cap, and rust-brown spores making the gills brown with age. Sulphur Tuft (Hypholoma fasiculare), could be mistaken for velvet shank at first glance, but this has sulphur yellow or olive-green gills and a sulphur yellow stem. |
Use as a food Must be cooked and can be used exactly as a cultivated mushroom. It has a nutty sweet flavour. A close relative (Flammulina filiformis) is cultivated as enoki and velvet shank can be used in the same way Hazards Must be cooked
Use in herbal medicine and medicine Research has shown it to have high anti-cancer activity under lab conditions
If you are suffering from any ailment or need medical advice, please see your General Practitioner Other uses None known Importance to other species None known
Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!
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