Funeral Bell

Where it grows

The funeral bell — also called the deadly Galerina or autumn skullcap — is one of the most widely distributed deadly mushrooms in the world. It fruits in clusters on rotten logs and stumps of both broadleaves and conifers, from spring to early winter, on every continent except Antarctica.

How to recognise it

A small, nondescript brown mushroom on a slender stem, growing in clusters from rotting wood. The cap is honey-coloured when wet and dries to buff with a paler margin (this is “hygrophanous”). The stem carries a thin white ring that disappears with age. The spore print is rusty brown.

Edibility & cautions

Deadly. Galerina marginata contains the same amatoxins as the death cap; a small cluster contains a lethal dose. After a 6–24 hour latent period, symptoms progress through violent gastric distress, apparent recovery, then catastrophic liver failure. The funeral bell is most often confused with the edible Sheathed Woodtuft (Kuehneromyces mutabilis) and cultivated Velvet Shank (Flammulina velutipes). Always take a spore print: Galerina drops rusty brown; the safe look-alikes drop white or cream. Never gather any small brown mushroom from wood without confirming the spore print.