Funeral Bell vs Velvet Shank / Enoki
Galerina marginata and Flammulina velutipes 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.
Fruits in winter frost on dead hardwood. The wild form looks nothing like the pale supermarket enoki.
Side by side
| Galerina marginata | Flammulina velutipes | |
|---|---|---|
| In this game | Poisonous | Edible |
| Habitat | Clustered on rotting conifer wood, sometimes broadleaf; stumps and buried timber. | Clusters on dead and dying broadleaf wood, especially elm, ash and willow. |
| Season | Spring to late autumn, mostly autumn. | Late autumn through winter, often in frost. |
| Spore print | Rust-brown. | White. |
The recorded spore prints differ: rust-brown for Galerina marginata, white for Flammulina velutipes. 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, Honey Fungus and Sheathed Woodtuft.
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