As it is a saprobic fungus, the fruit bodies typically appear in clusters on the stumps of dead coniferous trees.

This species was first recognised in 1783 by the German, August Batsch, as Agaricus flammans,[1] and later sanctioned by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in his Systema Mycologicum.

Its surface is bright yellow to orange, and covered with triangular scales (squamules) arranged in concentric rings.

As the cap expands and flattens with age, the partial veil tears, leaving a faint ring around the stem.

The base of the stem, typically more orange in color than the upper portion,[9] is firmly attached to the dead wood from which the fungus arises.

[16] Pholiota flammans fruit bodies bear no distinctive smell and taste mild to slightly bitter.

P. adiposa is also similar, but prefers to grow on dead hardwoods;[13] unlike P. flammans, it has gelatinous scales on the stem as well as the cap.

[22] The North American species once described by Alexander H. Smith, P. kauffmaniana, is closely related to P. flammans, but differs in having a more distinctly viscid cap.

[24] Being saprobic, P. flammans is found exclusively on dead and decaying stumps and trunks of coniferous trees, with fruit bodies appearing in tufts or singly, from summer to autumn.