Armillaria mellea, also known as Honey Mushroom, is a medium-sized agaric that has a convex, flattened, or wavy, olive-tinged, pale yellow-brown cap with a darker center and sparse pale scales. It grows, midsummer to late fall, densely clustered or in groups, around bases of living or dead trees or stumps of either coniferous or hardwood trees.

Cap convex at first but becoming flattened, often with a central raised umbo, later becoming somewhat dish-shaped. The margins are often arched at maturity and the surface is sticky when wet. The cap colour is honey-yellow when young and fresh, but soon fading to yellowish or brownish, with a darker area near the centre. Fine scales cover the young caps, most noticeably towards the centre. These scales do not always remain evident as the caps reach maturity. The flesh is white, thin and firm. Gills at first white, sometimes becoming pinkish-yellow or discoloured with age, broad and fairly distant, attached to the stipe at right angles or are slightly decurrent, crowded. Stem at first whitish, becoming yellowish or reddish-brown, more or less equal or tapering towards the base, finely wholly. The ring is yellowish, cottony or woolly, superior and fairly persistent. Spore print white.

Microscopic Features: The spores are ellipsoidal, smooth, and have an apiculus. They measure 7-9 x 5-6μm and are hyaline with droplets. The spores are inamyloid.

Armillaria mellea on the First Nature Web site.
Armillaria mellea on the MushroomExpert.Com Web site.