Hygrocybe sp. (Hygrocybe)

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The fruit body is a mushroom, with a cap atop a central stem. In general the caps are small, from 1 to 4 centimetres in diameter. The mushrooms may be dry or slimy and white, cream, pink, green, orange, red, violet, purple or brown. Caps may be conical, convex, flat, centrally depressed or funnel-shaped and may stay intact or show radial splitting. The gills are of various colours and may be thick, widely spaced and waxy - hence the colloquial name of Waxcap for the genus.

There is neither a partial nor a universal veil.

Spore print: white (mostly, but in some species tinged pink or yellow)

The mushrooms appear on soil in a wide variety of habitats.

The best way to get some understanding of Hygrocybe is to look at pictures of as many species as you can. They belong to the family Hygrophraceae and most of the Australian members of that family belong to the genus Hygrocybe. The work by Young, listed below, is a detailed study of the Australian species with detailed descriptions of macroscopic and microscopic features (with drawings) and 60 colour photographs showing a variety of mushrooms. The field guide by Gates & Ratkowsky includes colour photographs of 21 species.

References

G. Gates & D. Ratkowsky, A Field Guide to Tasmanian Fungi, 2nd ed., 2016, Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club.

A.M. Young. (2005). Fungi of Australia: Hygrophoraceae, ABRS, Canberra.

Hygrocybe sp. is listed in the following regions:

Canberra & Southern Tablelands | South Coast