Hygrocybe insipida (J E Lange) M M Moser - Spangle Waxcap

Phylum: Basidiomycota - Class: Agaricomycetes - Order: Agaricales - Family: Hygrophoraceae

Distribution - Taxonomic History - Etymology - Identification - Culinary Notes - Reference Sources

Hygrocybe insipida, Spangle Waxcap, southern England

The Spangle Waxcap has variable amounts of orange and yellow in the colours of its greasy cap.

Reddish waxcaps can be difficult to separate on macroscopic characters alone. Cap and stem stickiness plus odour are key features, but often you also need to examine a specimen under a microscope to come to a clear conclusion.

Hygrocybe insipida, Anglesey, Wales

Distribution

Hygrocybe insipida is widely distributed and plentiful across most parts of Britain and Ireland. The Spangle Waxcap is also recorded also in most mainland European countries, and it is occasionally recorded also in North America.

Taxonomic history

The Spangle Waxcap was first described scientifically Dutch mycologist Jakob Emanuel Lange in 1923, when he gave it the scientific name Hygrocybe reae var. insipida. The currently accepted name dates from 1967, when German mycologist M.M. Moser redefined this waxcap species as Hygrocybe insipida.

Synonyms of Hygrocybe insipida include Hygrocybe reae var. insipida J E Lange, Hygrophorus insipidus (J.E. Lange) S. Lundell, and Gliophorus insipidus (J.E. Lange) Herink..

Etymology

The genus Hygrocybe is so named because fungi in this group are always very moist. Hygrocybe means 'watery head'. The specific epithet insipida refers to the taste of the flesh of this mushroom - insipid (i.e. not at all strong).

Identification guide

Cap of Hygrocybe insipida

Cap

The cap is initially convex later flattening or developing a shallow depression but sometimes retaining a down-turned margin; 5 to 25 mm diameter; occasionally yellow but more often yellow-orange with a deeper orange centre; sometimes deep scarlet. Cap margin translucently striate. Surface covered with fine veins or tiny nodules (hand lens required); greasy (viscid or somewhat glutinous) when fresh.

Gills and stem of Hygrocybe miniata

Gills

Orange or yellow with paler edges; broadly adnate to deeply decurrent.

Stem

Scarlet or orange-red, usually paler towards the base, smooth and cylindrical or tapering towards the base; very often flexuose; 1 to 3 mm in diameter and 1.5 to 5.5 cm long with no stem ring.

Spores of Hygrocybe insipida

Spores

Ellipsoidal, smooth; sometimes constricted; 5.5-7.5 x 3-5 μm; hyaline; inamyloid.

Spore print

White.

Basidia  of Hygrocybe insipida

Basidia

Mostly four spored, 25-40 x 5-7 μm

Odour/taste

Not distinctive.

Habitat & Ecological role

Unimproved cropped or mown grassland including churchyards, lawns and common land where artificial fertilisers are not spread; also on mossy vegetated coastal dunes.

Waxcaps have long been considered to be saprobic on the dead roots of grasses and other grassland plants, but it is now considered likely that there is some kind of mutual relationship between waxcaps and mosses.

Season

September to November in Britain and Ireland.

Similar species

Hygrocybe cantharellus has decurrent gills.

Hygrocybe miniata is very similar but its crushed gills do not smell of Spangle.

Culinary Notes

Hygrocybe insipida is too small to be worth considering as a culinary collectible.

Spangle Waxcap showing decurrent gills

Reference Sources

Fascinated by Fungi, 2nd Edition, Pat O'Reilly 2016, reprinted by Coch-y-bonddu Books in 2022.

Fungi of Northern Europe, Volume 1 - The Genus Hygrocybe, David Boertmann, 2010.

Dictionary of the Fungi; Paul M. Kirk, Paul F. Cannon, David W. Minter and J. A. Stalpers; CABI, 2008

Taxonomic history and synonym information on these pages is drawn from many sources but in particular from the British Mycological Society's GB Checklist of Fungi.

Acknowledgements

This page includes pictures kindly contributed by Simon Harding.

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