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Hygrocybe psittacina

 

Commonly referred to as the Parrot Wax Cap, this brightly coloured fungus appears in summer and autumn on roadside verges, cropped grassland and woodland clearings.

Cap

Initially green, the bell-shaped cap expands and turns yellow, sometimes with an orange tinge.

Cap diameter at maturity is  2 to 4 cm.

Gills

The thick, waxy gills are distant and have adnate attachment to the stipe. 

At first green near the stipe and yellow towards the edge of the cap, as the fruit body matures most of the green colour in the gills fades.

Stipe

Slender and usually straight; green near the cap and yellow below; solid, with pale flesh. 4 to 8 mm diameter and 4 to 6 cm tall.

Spore print

White.

Odour/taste

Not distinctive.

Habitat

Cropped grassland not subject to artificial fertiliser treatment; also woodland clearings and shady roadside verges.

Season

August to November.

Occurrence

Frequent 

Similar species

  1. Hygrocybe flavescens is an all-yellow wax cap of similar size, but it does not have the initial green colouration and it has a hollow stipe at maturity.

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