Velvet shank.
Beech, horse chestnut and elm.
Other broadleaved species.
Found on stumps and at the stem base up in to the crown of the tree.
Annual caps. Generally abundant and in overlapping clusters. Caps are bright golden-orange and will become a brown-orange to purplish-red in over-maturity. Shiny and slippery when damp – otherwise dry and lacking the sheen. Gills are white to slightly yellowish. Stem begins yellowish and is rather tough and can be a little velvet-like.
Armillaria spp. (thicker stem, rougher cap); Gymnopilus junonius (much larger and in smaller groups); Gymnopus fusipes (spindle-shaped stem); Pholiota aurivella (much larger).
Usually found growing on dead trees though when found on living trees this fungus indicates physiological decline – most notably when found on elm. It is not known whether this fungus can act pathogenically though its presence on declining trees and its ability to colonise across vast areas of such hosts with seeming speed suggests that the potential might exist for it to be pathogenic.