_General Information_: Although rather a common easily recognisable and aesthetically pleasing fungus growing in its characteristic clusters at the base of trees, it is a weak parasite entering the living tissue after invading decayed areas of the tree. This is the reason why when branches are broken off trees by wind, snow or storms, they should be carefully trimmed to remove ragged edges and the wound treated with a protective tar to stop the entry of rain, cold and fungus spores. Other more destructive fungi may enter a tree through such wounds; _P. squarrosa_ frequently attacks mountain ash or rowan. It is recognised by the dry scaly cap and stem which helps to distinguish it from the sticky capped _P. aurivella_ (Fries) Kummer with similar habitat preferences but wider spores (6-9 × 4-5 µm). _P. adiposa_ (Fries) Kummer is found on beech trees and it, too, has a viscid cap, but the spores are 5-6 × 3-4 µm in dimensions. _Illustrations_: Hvass 134; LH 149; WD 54². [Illustration: Plate 11. Fleshy fungi: Spores rust-brown and borne on gills] (c) Saprophytes--wood inhabiting or lignicolous agarics ~Hypholoma fasciculare~ (Fries) Kummer Sulphur-tuft _Cap_: width 20-50 mm. _Stem_: width 6-13 mm; length 40-100 mm. _Description_: Cap: sulphur-yellow, flushed with sand-colour or red-brown at centre then ochraceous yellow throughout, convex at first with margin incurved and clothed with fibrillose remnants of a yellow-olive veil, but then becoming flattened and losing evidence of that veil. Stem: equal or flexuous, usually with several joined at base, similarly coloured to the cap, fibrillose streaky or with some fibrils from the veil stretching from the cap to the stem in young specimens. Gills: sinuate and crowded, at first sulphur-yellow then olive-green, but finally with a flush of purple-brown. Flesh: with rather strong and unpleasant smell, yellow throughout. Spore-print: purple-brown. Spores: medium-sized, ellipsoid or ovoid, smooth, purple-brown and less than 10 µm in length (6-8 × 4 µm). Marginal cystidia: flasked-shaped, short, cylindric and hyaline. Facial cystidia: more swollen than marginal cystidia and with silvery contents which yellow in solutions containing ammonia. _Habitat_ & _Distribution_: The sulphur-tuft grows in dense clusters on and around old stumps of broad-leaved trees, and can be found throughout the year; it also grows on conifers, but less frequently. _General Information_: It may be recognised by the greenish tint of the immature gills and of the young cap. _H. capnoides_ (Fries) Kummer grows on the wood of coniferous trees and has a much more ochraceous brown cap and stem than the sulphur-tuft and slightly larger spores--7-8 × 4-5 µm. _H. sublateritium_ (Fries) Quélet grows on hardwoods but is bigger than _H. fasciculare_ and has a brick-coloured cap and very sturdy stem (spores 6-7 × 3-4 µm).