24 October 2000 Surrey. Photograph copyright Leif Goodwin. Common Name Blackening Wax Cap Cap Sharply conical, sometimes lobed, surface dry and fibrous, red, orange or yellow, blackening with age, typically to about 5 cm across, exceptionally to about 10 cm across Gills Adnexed or free, pale yellow, blackening with age Stem Equal, dry, fibrous, yellow to orange, blackening with age, to about 10 cm high Flesh Yellow in the cap, white in the stem, blackening on cutting, fragile, fibrous in the stem Smell Indistinct Taste Indistinct Season Autumn Distribution Common Habitat In unimproved grassland, deciduous woods, marshes, and fixed dunes Spore Print White Microscopic Features Spores ellipsoidal or oblong, smooth (8.5-10) x (5-6.5) µm2 for specimens with four spored basida, and (9-11.5) x (5.5-7.5) µm2 for specimens with two spored basida Edibility Edible Notes This is a very variable species which includes many forms which were formerly considered as distinct species. See The Genus Hygrocybe by D. Boertmann for details. |