Hygrocybe subpapillata Kühner - Papillate Waxcap

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

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

Hygrocybe subpapillata, Papillate Waxcap, southern England

The Papillate Waxcap is a rare find in Britain, but the tiny papillate.smooth and oily cap makes it one of the easier of the small reddish waxcaps to identify.

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

Distribution

In Britain Hygrocybe subpapillata has been recorded in a few locations in England and Wales. The Papillate Waxcap is also found in several European countries including Norway, Germany and France.

Taxonomic history

The Papillate Waxcap was first described scientifically in 1979 by the French mycologist Robert Kühner (1903 - 1996), who gave it the scientific name Hygrocybe subpapillata.This is the generally-accepted name of this species, for which we know of no synonyms.

Etymology

The genus Hygrocybe is so named because fungi in this group are always very moist. Hygrocybe means 'watery head'. The specific epithet subpapillata refers to the small nipple-like outgrowth (papilla) in the centre of the cap of this mushroom.

Identification guide

Cap of Hygrocybe subpapillata

Cap

The cap is initially convex and usually papillate, later flattening but retaining the papilla, sometimes with an irregularly wavy up-turned margin; 5 to 30 mm diameter; scarlet to orange with a paler translucently-striate margin. Surface lubricious (oily) but not glutinous.

Gills of Hygrocybe subpapillata

Gills

Orange or yellow with paler edges; broadly adnate, or emarginate with a decurrent tooth (as shown here).

Gill trama of Hygrocybe subpapillata

Gill trama

Regular with long slender elements up to 35 μm diameter and up to 800 μm long.

Spore print

White.

Stem of Hygrocybe miniata

Stem

Dry, smooth or finely fibrillose; cylindrical or widening slightly towards the base; 2 to 3 mm in diameter and 2 to 5 cm long with no stem rin; golden yellow or orange, sometimes flushed red but usually paler towards the base.

Spores of Hygrocybe subpapillata

Spores

Ellipsoidal to oblong, smooth; sometimes broadly ellipsoidal; 7-9 x 4.5-5.5 μm; hyaline; inamyloid.

Spore print

White.

Basidia  of Hygrocybe subpapillata

Basidia

Mostly four spored, 30-45 x 7.5-10 μm

Odour/taste

Not distinctive.

Habitat & Ecological role

Unimproved short-award grassland including 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 similar but its cap mis not Papillate and not lubricious (oily).

Culinary Notes

Hygrocybe subpapillata is a very rare species and should not be gathered.

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.

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