Mycoscout How to identify a deadly galerina
The deadly galerina is a little brown mushroom: a smooth, honey-brown to cinnamon cap 1 to 7 cm across that fades as it dries, yellowish gills that turn rusty, a thin stem with a small ring, and a rusty-brown spore print. It grows on rotting wood, hardwood or conifer, singly or in clusters, and often appears to grow from soil when the wood is buried. Nothing about it looks dangerous, which is the problem: it sits among several edible species picked from logs, and it contains the amatoxins of the death cap. In Britain it is called the funeral bell; older North American books call it Galerina autumnalis, a name merged into G. marginata by DNA work in 2001.
| Feature | Deadly galerina / funeral bell (Galerina marginata) |
|---|---|
| Cap | 1–7 cm across (most 1.5–5 cm). Convex, then flat. Honey-yellow to orange-brown or cinnamon when wet, sticky; hygrophanous: dries paler from the rim inward, so the centre stays darkest and one cap can be two-toned (the edible woodtuft is the reverse). Smooth, no scales; edge sometimes faintly lined. |
| Gills / underside | Attached to the stem, close, fairly broad. Pale yellow-cream when young, rusty brown with age. |
| Stem & base | 2–7.5 cm tall, 2–8 mm thick, hollow. Pale buff at the top, browner to blackish towards the base. A thin, fragile pale ring or ring zone on the upper stem, often rusty with fallen spores; it can fade or vanish with age. |
| Flesh | Thin, pale brown. Never taste it. |
| Spore print | Rusty brown to snuff brown. |
| Smell | Mealy (like flour) when crushed, or not distinctive. |
| Habitat | On rotting wood: stumps, logs, fallen branches and wood chips, conifer and hardwood; also from buried wood, so it can seem to grow in soil or grass. |
| Season | Year-round in mild weather; most often spring and autumn in North America, especially September to November; summer and autumn in Britain and Ireland. It can push up through snow. |
| Range (US / UK & Europe) | Widespread and common across North America. Uncommon but not rare in Britain and Ireland; across central and northern mainland Europe and Asia. |
Confirm these features
- Growing from wood: a stump, log, branch, wood chips or buried wood.
- A smooth, honey-brown to cinnamon cap, 1–7 cm, that dries paler from the rim inward, keeping the centre darkest.
- Gills attached to the stem, yellowish then rusty brown.
- A thin ring or ring zone on the upper stem, often dusted rusty, or the trace of one.
- A rusty-brown spore print after a few hours on white paper.
- A stem that darkens towards the base.
Why one feature is never enough: the ring is the feature guides lean on, and MushroomExpert notes it can be reduced to a faint zone or absent altogether. The cap colour changes as it dries. The spore print is the check that holds up, and it is the one a photo cannot show. Our guide to taking a spore print takes a few hours and a piece of paper.
Dangerous look-alikes
Honey fungus / honey mushroom (Armillaria mellea and relatives)
Tell apart: honey mushrooms drop a white spore print; the galerina's is rusty brown. Honey mushrooms are usually larger, grow in big dense clusters at the base of trees and stumps, and most have a cap with fine dark scales and a more substantial ring. Ringless honey mushrooms (Desarmillaria) lack the ring but still print white. Risk: both grow on the same wood in the same autumn weeks, and a small galerina can be gathered by mistake with a handful of honey mushrooms. See honey fungus vs deadly galerina and the honey fungus page.
Sheathed woodtuft (Kuehneromyces mutabilis)
Tell apart: First Nature calls these two so easily confused that it advises leaving the woodtuft for looking, not cooking. The woodtuft's cap dries darkest at the edge (the galerina dries palest at the edge and darkest in the centre), its stem below the ring is scaly and dark, it grows mainly on hardwood, and it lacks the mealy smell; in some cases only a microscope separates them. Risk: the woodtuft is a traditional edible in Europe. Anyone picking it is one dried-out cap away from a galerina.
Velvet shank / velvet foot (Flammulina velutipes)
Tell apart: no ring, a dark velvety stem and a white spore print; it fruits in winter on hardwood. Risk: another small orange-brown mushroom on wood, picked in the same cold months the galerina is also up.
Scalycaps (Pholiota) and sulphur tufts (Hypholoma)
Tell apart: Pholiota usually has a scaly cap and a dark brown print; Hypholoma is generally larger with a dark brown to purple-brown print. Risk: not for the pot either way, but a forager sorting a log by eye alone will not separate any of these reliably.
Little brown mushrooms picked as something else
Tell apart: the North American Mycological Association warns that Galerina marginata is mistaken for other small brown mushrooms with similar caps. Risk: any brown-capped mushroom gathered from wood without a spore print is a gamble with amatoxins.
Where and when it grows
The deadly galerina feeds on dead wood and will take almost any of it: conifer stumps and logs are its classic home in Europe, but in North America it is just as common on fallen hardwoods, and it turns up on wood-chip mulch in gardens and on buried wood in lawns, where it appears to grow from the ground. It fruits in clusters or scattered, year-round in mild weather, with peaks in spring and autumn; the Missouri Department of Conservation notes it sometimes pushes up through snow. In North America it is widespread and common. In Britain and Ireland it is uncommon but not rare, fruiting in summer and autumn, and it occurs across central and northern Europe. Because it appears in the same places and weeks as honey fungus, velvet shank and woodtuft, every basket of small brown mushrooms from wood needs a spore print before the kitchen.
Symptoms and why the delay matters
Galerina marginata contains amatoxins, the same toxin group as the death cap and destroying angel, and cooking does not destroy them. The North American Mycological Association describes the course: no symptoms for 6 to 24 hours (Missouri says 10 or more), while the toxins damage the liver and kidneys; then about a day of violent vomiting, diarrhea and cramps; then a day of apparent recovery in which patients have been sent home; then relapse with liver and kidney failure, which can be fatal without specialist care. First Nature notes that without prompt treatment poisoning by this species can be fatal.
A galerina is small, so a single cap in a pan of honey mushrooms may not be noticed and symptoms may not be linked to the meal the next day. If anyone has eaten small brown mushrooms from wood and you are not certain what they were, use the emergency numbers at the top of this page now, before symptoms start, and keep any leftover mushrooms.
Using an app to check a find
Small brown mushrooms on wood are the hardest case for any photo identification: dozens of species share the shape and colour, and the deciding feature, the spore print, is invisible in a picture. Mycoscout asks for the cap, gills, stem and habitat, puts the edibility verdict first, shows how confident it is and names the look-alikes to rule out; for a mushroom like this it will often say it is unsure, which is the honest answer. Treat a "Deadly, do not eat" verdict as final and any other verdict as a prompt to take a spore print and ask an expert. iNaturalist offers free human identification, and a local mycological society can examine the whole cluster and the wood it grew from.
Frequently asked questions
How do you tell deadly galerina from honey mushrooms?
Take a spore print. Deadly galerina drops a rusty-brown print; honey mushrooms (Armillaria) drop a white one. Galerina caps are small, smooth and honey-brown to cinnamon; honey mushrooms are usually larger, often with fine dark scales on the cap, in bigger clusters. Check every cluster, because the two grow on the same logs.
What are the symptoms of deadly galerina poisoning?
The same as death cap poisoning. Nothing for 6 to 24 hours (Missouri says 10 or more), then vomiting, diarrhea and cramps, then a day of apparent recovery, then liver and kidney failure that can be fatal. Call poison control at once if anyone has eaten a small brown mushroom from wood.
Is the funeral bell the same as deadly galerina?
Yes. Funeral bell is the British name for Galerina marginata; deadly galerina is the North American name. Older US guides call it Galerina autumnalis, which DNA work in 2001 folded into G. marginata along with several other names.
Does deadly galerina grow on shiitake logs?
It can grow on any rotting wood, including cut logs, and it fruits year-round in mild weather. Take a spore print of anything unexpected on a cultivation log: a rusty-brown print means it is not the mushroom you planted.
Sources
How we checked this page: the Mycoscout team cross-checked every edibility, toxicity and look-alike statement against the sources below on October 31, 2026. It has not been reviewed by a mycologist.
- Mushroom poisoning syndromes: amatoxins, North American Mycological Association. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Galerina marginata, Funeral Bell, First Nature. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Deadly Galerina (Galerina marginata), Missouri Department of Conservation. Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Galerina marginata, MushroomExpert.com (Michael Kuo). Accessed October 31, 2026.
- Kuehneromyces mutabilis, Sheathed Woodtuft, First Nature. Accessed October 31, 2026.
