Saturday, 04 February 2012

Parrot Waxcap

Facts
Common Name: 
Parrot Waxcap
Scientific Name: 
Hygrocybe psittacina var. psittacina
Cap Diameter (mm): 
10-30mm
Stem Height (mm): 
20-40mm
Stem Diameter (mm): 
2-5mm
Information
Description: 

A small, greenish-yellow fungus with a slimy cap that is found growing in soil on short or cropped grassland.

Distribution: 

Infrequent from late Summer till Autumn.

Habitat: 

On soil among short, cropped or mown grass.

Cap: 

Initially greenish in colour, yellowing with age, and on drying, convex  or campanulate, becoming flattened and umbonate, when young,  the cap is very  viscid with green gluten, margin is striate.

Flesh: 

Cap flesh is thin, pallid, tinged greenish yellow, stem flesh similat to cap flesh, stuffed. Odour and taste not distinctive.

Gills: 

Adnate, broad and fairly distant, yellowish towards the margin, greenish towards the cap.

Stem: 

Slender, very  viscid, more or less equal,  greenish towards the apex,  yellowish elsewhere, ring absent.

Additional Notes: 

Confusion can occur due to the marked colour variations.