To brighten a winter's day

Velvet shank is one of the few mushrooms to thrive at this time of year, says John Wright

- John Wright

The depths of winter is not usually a good time to find wild mushrooms, or indeed anything much else that is wild and edible. But a few will make an appearance and one or two are true winter specialists.

One of these is the velvet shank, also known as the velvet foot, golden needle mushroom and, sensibly enough, the winter mushroom. It is a beautiful fungus, brightening the winter scene with its rich and warm colours. Its Latin name describes it perfectly: Flammulina velutipes, or little flame with a velvet foot.

The velvet shank grows in large and striking colonies on the deadwood of deciduous trees. Elm was once its favoured host, making it extremely common during the 1970s and ’80s when millions of elms lay around for the taking. It can still be found on the doomed hedgerow elms that continue to appear, only to die while only a few inches in diameter. Beech and ash are now the main hosts, though it is not restricted to them. Almost any deciduous tree can perform the duty of host.

With ash dieback, we may be due a new bumper crop, though it is poor recompense for so great a loss. Velvet shanks nearly always fruit on the main trunk of their dead host, slowly rotting it away. However, I have seen a few growing on small fallen branches. Sometimes it will grow on a buried branch and appear to be terrestrial.