Funeral Bell vs Honey Fungus
Galerina marginata and Armillaria mellea are confused for one another often enough to be worth putting next to each other.
Small, brown and deadly. Contains the same amatoxins as the Death Cap and grows on wood, where people hunt edible species.
Edible only well cooked and never raw; some people react badly even then. A destructive tree parasite.
Side by side
| Galerina marginata | Armillaria mellea | |
|---|---|---|
| In this game | Poisonous | Edible |
| Habitat | Clustered on rotting conifer wood, sometimes broadleaf; stumps and buried timber. | Dense clusters at the base of living and dead broadleaf trees, spreading by black bootlace rhizomorphs. |
| Season | Spring to late autumn, mostly autumn. | Autumn. |
| Spore print | Rust-brown. | White — the fastest check against its deadly lookalikes. |
The recorded spore prints differ: rust-brown for Galerina marginata, white — the fastest check against its deadly lookalikes for Armillaria mellea. That is one documented difference, not a test you can pass.
This comparison cannot make a mushroom safe to eat. It sets out the few characteristics this game records, in general terms, for two species that vary by region, age and growing conditions. Real specimens overlap in ways no table and no photograph can separate, and the deadly one here is deadly in a single meal. Ask a qualified local expert, every time.
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Galerina marginata is also confused with Wrinkled Conecap, Velvet Shank / Enoki and Sheathed Woodtuft.
Armillaria mellea is also confused with Sulphur Tuft and Sheathed Woodtuft.
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