It is found in Europe and North America, where it grows as a saprotroph on the rotting wood of deciduous trees, including trunks and roots.

[3] The fungus was originally described by Wilhelm Gottfried Lasch in 1828,[4] as a member of the genus Agaricus.

After being shuffled to several different genera in its taxonomic history, it was transferred to Pholiota by Rolf Singer in 1951.

[5] The fungus makes fruitbodies with straw-yellow to beige caps measuring 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) in diameter.

Initially pale yellow, they turn brownish in age as the spores mature.