Ringless Honey Mushroom

Desarmillaria tabescens

Family: PhysalacriaceaeNative: North America and Europe, widely distributed globally in temperate zones.Identified: Nov 4, 2026

Forms dense clusters of mushrooms with convex to flat, honey-brown caps covered in tiny dark scales, growing directly from buried wood or tree roots.

Light: Shaded to partially shaded environments, typically growing beneath forest canopies or near decaying wood.
Water: Requires high moisture in the surrounding soil and decaying wood substrate to support fungal fruiting body development.
Growth: Fungal organism producing seasonal clustered epigeous fruiting bodies from subterranean mycelial networks.

Care instructions

This is a fungus rather than a cultivated green plant, growing saprophytically or parasitically on woody substrates in forested or garden soils.

Shaded to partially shaded environments, typically growing beneath forest canopies or near decaying wood.

Requires high moisture in the surrounding soil and decaying wood substrate to support fungal fruiting body development.

Rich forest soils containing abundant organic matter, buried wood, and decaying root systems with a slightly acidic to neutral pH.

USDA Hardiness Zones 3 through 9.

Fungal organism producing seasonal clustered epigeous fruiting bodies from subterranean mycelial networks.

Not applicable

Propagates naturally via microscopic spores released from the gills of mature caps, as well as vegetative spread of underground mycelium.

Acts as a pathogen on living trees while also functioning as a saprobe on dead wood, occasionally causing root rot in surrounding woody vegetation.

Armillaria mellea (Honey Fungus), which typically features a distinct ring on the stipe, whereas Desarmillaria tabescens completely lacks a ring.

Near a very old tree that is dead