Cap: large, up to 180 mm broad, usually broadly convex, surface dry with small scales on the margin. Color Bright, usually some shade of orange ranging from buff yellow to tawny-yellow, becoming rusty with age. Taste very bitter.

Gills: Close to crowded. color pale yellow to orange-yellow, becoming rusty with age.

Stem: 8-10 mm long, 6-16 mm at the apex, clavate or tapered downward, colored at the cap. Partial veil remaining leaving a nearly membranous or fibrillose zone at the stalks apex.

Spores: 8-10.2 x (4,5-)6.6-7.3 mics.

Sporeprint: Rusty brown to orange-brown in potassium hydroxide.

Habitat: G. spectabilis grows singularly but often caepitose, on stumps, logs, or on dead or living trees, sometimes terrestrial, growing from buried wood on both conifers and hardwood.

Distribution:This species is widely distributed in the United States, Europe and in some regions of Australia.

Season: It fruits from summer through the winter depending on the location and weather.

Dosage: large amounts of this bitter shroom are needed.

Comment: The common species name is now known as Gymnopilus junonius. This is the correct name for "Gymnopilus spectabilis," according to taxonomists and mycologists. This is a very bitter tasting mushroom and large quantities need to be consumed for the desired effects. This mushroom has been known of in Japan for many centuries as Waraitake (Laughing Mushroom) or O-Waraitake (Big Laughing Mushroom).